


The New Age Empire v2: Book Two

by GokuGirl



Series: The New Age Empire [3]
Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Drama, Gen, Humor, Out of Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2001-05-01
Updated: 2001-06-23
Packaged: 2018-04-10 18:26:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 77,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4402541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GokuGirl/pseuds/GokuGirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Version #2. Semi-fusion with Ranma 1/2. Goten and V.J. travel to Planet Agalar to collect water from magic springs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Book Two: Quest for Agalar - The Ancient Ring of Suk'dn-sei

New Character Bios: (so far there's only one)

 **Magori**  
Age: 7  
Height: 3'5  
Weight: 40 lbs  
Eye color: Black

 **Description:** He's the little Namekian boy that told Mia of the bars and hugged her when he was freed. After leaving Suk'dn-sei and returning to Namek-sei, he didn't want to leave her so Muri gave them permission to 'adopt' him. Magori is small and basically looks like your standard Namekian.

 **Hobbies:** Playing with Jakina, hanging around Mia, hearing stories about what happened on Chikyuu long ago.

(Maybe if I can get it right, you'll have pictures for all of the characters. I have one for Jakina but...)

 

**~Chapter One: The Ancient Ring of Suk'dn-sei~**

Vegeta's subjects loved watching he and their commander spar every morning even if they couldn't see them half the time. There was just something about the way they fought, how concentrated they were on that task, that just took their breath away. Of course it would be better if the king won in those matches but they would take whatever they could get.

At first Vegeta was seriously annoyed at them watching. Why would he want someone to see him get beaten by Kakarott every single day? But as he became used to it, he used it as a time to show off just how strong and skilled he was. This also resulted in Goku beating him even faster because he wasn't paying close enough attention.

Every morning after their spar, Goku would go and find the kids and he would go and look at paperwork. He hated this even more than Trunks did. There was always some land dispute or some proposed law sitting on his desk waiting to be looked over. On old Vegeta-sei they had only one law: obey the king or die. Unfortunately this couldn't be put to use on Chikyuu.

Vegeta's royal office was sort of dark and gloomy. He had picked out the wall covering, the flooring, and the furniture himself saying that it would help him concentrate. Far be it from everyone to try and figure out just how his mind worked. Anyway, he was sitting in his office, the one with the dark wood paneling and equally dark wooden floor, staring at a rich, polished maple desk that was covered in paperwork and sighed.

"It's times like these that make me regret taking this job."

Just as he was about to write down a rejection -- The law was about making it legal to park your cars in the middle of the street if there wasn't a free spot around of all things! -- there was a tentative knock on his door.

Vegeta prided himself on learning the distinctive characteristics of all those around him. He knew how their mind worked almost to the point of knowing what they would say next, he knew all of their daily schedules just in case, and he knew how they walked and how they knocked on doors. Judging by the almost gentleness in how his door was being treated, it had to be none other that his youngest, Jakina.

"Come in Jackie-chan." he said. She poked her head inside and the rest of her body soon followed as she closed the door behind her.

"It's almost lunch time, Papa. Mama told me to tell you that."

One eyebrow raised itself on Vegeta's face. "Did she cook today?"

"No, Mia did. Magori and I helped."

He stood up from his black leather swivel desk chair. "Well, I guess that's better then." He noticed then just how sad she seemed to be. Jakina was hardly ever sad. "What's wrong Jackie-chan?"

She blinked, as if coming out of deep thought, and shook her head. "Nothing."

"Remember what I told you two weeks ago," he raised her head with a finger, "It's okay to talk to me."

Jakina took a deep breath. "Papa, at school they call me a weakling."

"Why? You're my daughter and half-saiyan you can't be a weakling."

"I don't know how to fight at all. It doesn't matter how strong I am now if I don't know how to use it. Will you train me?"

This was news. Very good news. Vegeta kept his face carefully blank and picked her up. "We'll discuss this over lunch."

"Oh," she said, understanding, "you have to get Mama's permission."

"No I do not have to get your mother's permission!" he said. "I'm the king here!" She simply stared at him. "Okay, so I do have to get permission. So what?"

She shook her head and snuggled closer to him. "Nothing. I think it's nice that you're going to at least ask. I'm her daughter too."

"At least you don't have her weirdly colored hair," he smiled slightly at her. "You look more like me. I like that. Let's go."

***

Meals at the Capsule Corporation were always noisy, argumentative affairs. If the children weren't fighting over the last bit of food, they were fighting over who's turn it was to load the dishwasher. But now, since there were so many people living in the palace, it was even worse. Mia and Bra brought out all the food to the dining room table (because the kitchen one wasn't large enough for everyone) and almost before they could sit it down on the table, Goten was grabbing at the rice.

"Will you just wait a minute!" Mia said as she slapped his hand away. "You're almost as bad as Tousan!" She sat down near him, on his right, to make sure he didn't steal anything.

Bra also sat down. "We have to wait until Papa and Jackie get here."

When five minutes passed Trunks and V.J. were irritated beyond belief. "If they don't get here soon," Trunks said, "I'm eating anyway."

A few seconds later Vegeta and Jakina emerged from the side hallway that didn't lead to anywhere besides Vegeta's office and a couple of official meeting rooms. He placed her down in a chair next to Pan and sat at the other head of the table, across from Bulma at the other end. He looked up and noticed everyone besides Bulma, Bra, and Jakina staring at him. "Nani?"

"When did you become so nice, Vegeta-ojisan?" Goten asked. "Bra's the only one I ever seen you so nice to."

Rolling his eyes Vegeta stood and walked around the table to hug V.J. and Trunks. Then he hugged Goten. Upon returning to his seat, he reached for the large covered bowl of rice. "There, are you happy now?"

"This isn't the real Papa," Trunks whispered to everyone. "The real one has been abducted." Goten snickered.

 _"Look at that,"_ Vegeta said to his youngest mentally, _"when I show emotion they laugh."_

"Stop that!" Jakina said with a fierce frown on her face. "How could you laugh at Papa like that? And you wonder why he's never nice to anyone!" She suddenly fell silent and spread her napkin onto her lap. "Forget it. Let's just eat."

***

Bra was the one closest to a phone when it began to ring. Putting her shoes down she pushed the call button on the video phone. The screen blanked for a moment and then the face of a small green skinned man with small black horns and black spots appeared on it.

"Uh hi," she said to him. "Who're you?"

"I am Doctor Judek and you are?"

"I'm Bra Briefs. So, who do you want to speak to?" Quite suddenly a little window popped up in the left corner of the main screen.

"I got it Bra," Vegeta informed her.

"Alright. I'm leaving now Papa. Ja!" She pushed the call button once again to disconnect it and sat down on the carpeted hallway floor to put on her shoes.

Vegeta turned towards the phone and nodded for Judek to continue.

"Vegeta-oui, when your children and Commander Goku's children came to our planet to make their wish, there was a ring that we were excavating from some space ruins a couple of light years south from Namek-sei. Since then we have deciphered the language inscribed on the ring and discovered that it was once part of our planet, Suk'dn, that is between Chikyuu and Namek-sei."

Vegeta waited impatiently for him to get to the point. He had more work to do. Judek noticed this and sped up his call.

"Well, our Queen has given me permission to give you this ring as payment for your protection services. There is a map in this ring, a very old one, that points to the existence of ancient springs that do various things. We thought that these springs might help the Empire."

"Oh?" Vegeta said. "What do these springs do exactly?"

"We only know of a few but the latest images and reports from the planet indicate that there are at least one hundred. There is a Spring of Knowledge and a Spring of Power as well as a Spring of Longevity."

"Spring of Longevity?" His eyes lit up. "Do you know how long this spring adds to one's life?"

Judek shrugged. "We haven't a clue seeing as we've never been there. But you can probably test each one to see the short and long term effects. In fact, I recommend that you do."

"Well domo arigatou, doctor. I'll send someone to pick it up." he disconnected the call and sat back in his chair. "Now who's not doing anything important that I can call." It took him only moments to locate a someone and he spoke to him mentally.

_"Kakarott, get your ass in here."_

He felt Goku's amusement at being ordered into his office. _"Can't you just tell me this way? I'm in the middle of a snack."_

_"Fine. I need you to go to Suk'dn to pick up something for me."_

_"How do you want me to go? Regular spaceship or Instantaneous Movement?"_

Vegeta mentally rolled his eyes and Goku noticed. _"What do you think? It'll take the round trip a week. Why do that when teleporting takes a few seconds?"_

 _"Because it uses energy?"_ Goku said sort of sarcastically. _"Anyway, it's an abuse of my power. I can't keep using it for stupid reasons."_

 _"Kakarott,"_ Vegeta said amusedly. _"You use it to come downstairs in the morning for first pick at breakfast."_

 _"Hey,"_ Goku said defensively. _"I'm a hungry Saiyan."_

_"So I've noticed. Anyway, go there and bring the ring that Judek gives you to my office. And hai, you can teleport into it."_

_"Oh arigatou your royal highness,"_ Goku said with extreme sarcasm. _"How can I ever repay you for your kindness?"_ Vegeta began to respond but he noticed that Goku was no longer on the planet.

"I'll give him three minutes tops."

***

The ring was exactly what Judek had said it was, a map. The thing had taken Goku ten minutes to retrieve because he said that they offered him a meal. Vegeta knew that a free meal was just something that he couldn't resist no matter how strong his will was.

He and Goku sat there with the lights off looking at the projection from the ring. It was made of pure gold and there were two blood red stones set on either side of a small diamond. On the inside of the band near the jewels, there was a tiny button that was used to trigger the semi-transparent projection.

"What is this a map of?" Goku asked, curious.

"I have no idea," Vegeta frowned. "I need someone that knows areas outside of this part of the universe."

"That means no one," Goku sighed. "Not even you nor I have ever been outside of it. I've actually gone to one planet but I was tracking down Brolli at the time and I teleported."

"According to this it's in some spiral galaxy," Vegeta floated up a little and pointed to where he indicated with this finger. "There's sun at the center and at least three planets."

"Wait a minute!" Goku stood and grabbed Vegeta's arm. "I know someone who can help!" He teleported moments later.

They reappeared in the spirit realm next to the ever sleeping Kaio-sama.

"Wake up Kaio-sama," Goku said as he shook him. "Veggie and I have something to talk to you about."

Vegeta looked around at the ogres and spirits going about their rituals. "Thought I'd never see this place again."

Kaio-sama snorted and blinked. "Goku, what do you want now? Have you come to try and kill me again?"

Goku groaned. "How many times do I have to tell you that I'm sorry about blowing up your planet?!"

He grinned. "At least another hundred. When you die again, I'll be waiting. Now, what can I do for you?"

"We're looking for a planet," Vegeta informed him. "It's in a spiral nebula."

"That information is supposed to help me locate it?" Kaio-sama asked in disbelief. "You're going to have to give me more than that."

"We think it's in the western part of the universe."

"Ah," he nodded. "Majin Buu and Brolli did utterly destroy the eastern and southern. What's on this planet that you want?"

Goku smiled sheepishly. "How did you know we wanted something?"

"Because Vegeta's here. He never does anything without wanting something else."

"Ha, ha," Vegeta said sarcastically. "They're springs that give you certain things. Like knowledge or power. The Suk'dn gave us this ring with a map for them on it."

Suddenly Kaio-sama sat up incredibly fast in his chair. He looked from Vegeta to Goku wit his mouth open. "You want to go there?! To the forbidden planet of Agalar!" Those two sentences halted all talk around them. All of the ogres and spirits looked at them both in astonishment. Then the whispering began.

"They're going to the cursed planet. They'll never make it back."

Vegeta looked at everyone and then rolled his eyes. "Oh come on! I'm not going, I have too much to do. But I was sending Kakarott here. What's so bad about Agalar anyway?"

But Kaio-sama would not answer as he wrote down the coordinates. "You'll find out, if you go there."


	2. Book Two: Quest for Agalar - The Ancient Ring of Suk'dn-sei

The more he thought about it, the more Agalar was just screaming for someone to come and explore it. Vegeta chose carefully who he would be sending to the planet and was was tempted to include Kakarott just because he could teleport them back to Chikyuu if things got out of hand. But in the end he chose only Goten and Vegeta Jr. since they had no responsibilities.

"Before you three ask," he said sternly to Pan, Bra, and Jakina, "the answer is no."

Pan made a face and he shoved her feet off the coffee table. "Stop putting your feet on our table, brat. Do you do that at your own house?" he asked more out of habit than anything else.

"Hai," she smirked. "I live here now too, remember?" Bulma had made Gohan a member of the science board so he thought it would be better to live closer to her and since they had all of that extra space...

Bra, Jakina, and Magori were delighted. Having four young children and one baby around the house was slowly driving Vegeta insane.

The living room they all occupied now was the informal one. Of course they had another to entertain foreign guests. It was ultra modern with thick white carpet and completely white furniture though the family room was its exact opposite at black. Chinese paintings covered the walls and a white grand piano sat in one corner. Bulma told them right away that the piano wasn't just for decoration. She wanted someone to learn how to play it and regale her with Beethoven's Ninth Symphony or some other similar piece. Vegeta just wanted it to resemble some form of a song and not just a lot of noise. So far Jakina could play Chopsticks and Pan could peck out Mary Had a Little Lamb with one finger. At this rate, they would be adults before they had any real skills.

"I want you to leave as soon as possible," Vegeta informed his son and 'adopted' nephew. "I also want you to take as many containers as you can so that you can bring the stuff home with you. We can make good profit from it."

It just so happens that Bulma was passing by when he said that. She paused in shock and then began to yell at him.

"How dare you con our people!"

"Onna you don't know what you're talking about! That stuff is real!"

She blinked once and picked up Jakina so that she could sit down on the couch. "Seriously?"

"Seriously Mama," Jakina said from her lap. "The Suk'dn said so."

"Give me one good reason to believe them," she demanded. "I've never met any of them."

V.J. chuckled darkly, not unlike his father. "They're terrified that we're going to withdraw our protection. Of course they would give us a little something occasionally so that we don't change our minds."

"Why would we do something like that?" Bulma asked. "It would be too cruel."

He shrugged with almost indifference. "Ask Papa."

So turned to look at him in questioning and unknowingly Jakina plastered a similar expression onto her face.

For some odd reason Vegeta was reluctant to tell her. But he knew she would never leave it alone unless she did. "There are many reasons, onna. One could be that they no longer have anything left to offer to the Empire."

"Is it their technology? Or would it be the quality of the potential slaves? Kami Vegeta, why can't you do something for someone just for the sake of doing? Why do you always have to seek something to gain?"

Vegeta forced himself to look straight into her eyes. "It is the Saiyan way, Bulma. It is who I am and who I will remain until the day I die."

She smiled at him, sadly, and returned her seat back to her youngest. "Sometimes it's good to forget what you used to be." She turned and walked soundlessly from the room in the direction of her lab.

No one said anything for long minutes. Vegeta sat there contemplating it all but couldn't really find anything to argue with her about later. Bulma was right. He knew that she was right just like everyone in that room knew that she was right. Perhaps even little Jakina knew that her mother was right. He shook his head to clear it. There was nothing that he could do about that now. He had a mission to launch.

***

"At my calculation," Gohan said while pushing his glasses back upon his nose with his index finger. He was doing the whole pre-flight check because Bulma was still angry about the whole thing. "The whole trip in space should only take around ten days."

"That's all? I thought it would at least take a month." Goten asked. "Great! Then I can be home again. This is ruining my sparring and best-buddy time with Trunks."

V.J. rolled his eyes. "He's vice president of Capsule Corp. He doesn't have time for you. You need a life."

Goten growled at him. "Don't make me hurt you little boy."

"I'm only two years younger than you so don't call me little boy!"

"Guys!" Gohan shouted. "This isn't getting us anywhere."

They both shut up immediately and nodded. "Gomen niichan." "Gomen Gohan-san."

Hardly anyone had come to see them off. The kids and Mia were all at school, Trunks had to work, Vegeta had more laws to reject, and Bulma was sitting pissed in her lab. But Goku was there as well as ChiChi and Videl.

"Say bye-bye to Goten-ojichan!" Videl said to little Moura. The small girl giggled and patted Goten on his arm.

"Bye-Bye!"

Goten smiled and kissed her on the forehead. "Be good for mommy and daddy okay?"

"Now Goten-chan, you better call when you get into space, call when you get to Agalar, and call when you're about to come home."

"Kaasan," he said hugging her. "I'll be fine."

Goku hugged him too. "Veggie-chan made me promise to tell you that if you aren't back in two weeks, that he would send me after you."

"Oh?" ChiChi said. "Mr. Vegeta-oui is too special to go himself?"

"It's not like that ChiChi. He has too much to do and since I can teleport there in a second..."

She sighed. "I understand."

Gohan stood from where he was working and cleared his throat formally. "As Vegeta would say if her were here, 'No sightseeing, no sidetrips...' "

Everyone finished in unison. "....and no conversing with friendly natives."

They all laughed and an irritated voice shouted from the doorway. "I heard that!"

Vegeta emerged from Bulma's lab pulling a wagon filled with glass jars of every conceivable size. They blinked at him and then shook their heads.

"You were serious!" Goten exclaimed.

"Of course I was boy!" He pointed to the jars. "The bigger ones are for me. I want you to label each one and get a full jar from each and every spring." He leaned closer to V.J. "Especially get some from the Spring of Longevity and the Spring of Power."

"Er, I see Papa." He took it from him and rolled his eyes when his back was turned.

They boarded a ship that was Bulma had been designing ever since Trunks had given her a picture of modern Lyz'dian spaceships. Gone was the round design but a more horizontal one similar to an airplane. It made a lot of sense as she added the hardware to just do away with the old design.

It was rounded in the front with two fins that jutted out from the sides and hidden seamless spaces on the hull that turned into laser cannons when a single button was pressed. It was easily boardable by the small door on the side that was also very seamless when closed. The kids are argued over what color to paint it and finally they decided on a deep red. Everyone thought it was great and Bulma considered it her pride and joy.

"This baby," she had said as she patted the side tenderly, "could get you to Namek-sei and back within a few days."

"But that-that's impossible!" Trunks gasped.

She grinned. "Not anymore."

The standard equipment of the ship included a hyperdrive for the necessary jump to lightspeed, a fully stocked kitchen that could last even a full Saiyan six months with snacks, a weapon's arsenal that would make ChiChi jealous, king size beds, a gravity chamber that went higher than Vegeta's current one, and many more special features including the giant hot tub that Vegeta Jr. had begged and pleaded for. Bulma and her team of engineers had gotten almost every single bug out of it and even added an experimental artificial intelligence to see if it would be worth it to expand into that area. So far the computer was silent.

"Uh, computer?" Goten hesitated. He looked around as if trying to figure out where the brain was exactly. There was a main computer console in front of the pilot and co-pilot's seats when a lot of flashing buttons that he could never hope to figure out. On one side there was a monitor about the size of a nineteen inch television screen with a few buttons below it and in front there was a huge viewing window that could be transparent or opaque at the press of a button.

"Yes, demi-saiyan?" it said this with a note of amusement.

"Are you trying to tell me that you have a name?" he asked as he took a seat.

"Of course. You wouldn't like it if someone called you by your species now would you? Even A.I.s like to be called something other than simply 'computer'."

"What's your name then?" Vegeta asked as he took the seat next to Goten. The voice that spoke to them sounded male so it was easy to apply a male pronoun.

"Formally I am called Donovan G692735-"

"Wait a minute!" Goten cut him off. "Can we just call you Don?"

"I don't see why not. May I call you Goten and your friend Vegeta?"

"Of course! How do you know our names?"

"Bulma has programmed many things into me including biographies about everyone around her. That includes her children, her mate, her friends, and co-workers. I know your ages, your heights, even your blood types."

Their was a static noise and Gohan's face appeared on the monitor. "Are you two going to leave anytime soon?"

"Oh yeah sure!" Goten was sheepish. "We were getting to know Don here."

Gohan smiled. "He's brilliant, isn't he? We worked the hardest on him hoping that one day artificial intelligence would be commonplace in society."

"That's wonderful and all Niichan, but we really should be leaving," Goten interrupted him knowing that if Gohan got going on one subject for too long, they would never be able to shut him up. "Strap yourself in Vegeta, this may be a bumpy ride."

"I should hope not!" Don exclaimed, mildly offended. "I will use the utmost care in liftoff."

"Sorry 'bout that. Of course you will." He glanced over at his friend who was staring at all of the technology with great interest similar to the way he had been just a few minutes earlier. But Vegeta had grown up around this stuff his entire life, Goten was just getting used to having robot servants make his bed and sometimes cook his meals.

"It's just that I've never seen the finished product before," he explained to the other young man. "Kaasan would always show us when it was just unfinished sketches on napkins or whatever. She had high hopes for this, you know, even before the War."

"And then," he voice fell lower, "I became too busy to listen to her speak of propulsion engines and maintenance systems."

"Busy doing *what*?" Goten asked. "Like me, you don't want to go to college yet. What could you be doing that requires you to be constantly busy?"

He glared at him. "Would you let me finish, baka?" Goten shut his mouth. "Arigatou. Anyway, I would always find somewhere to be or something to do. I think she was disappointed that her two eldest children weren't as interested in her work as she was. But now I see this and wish that I could be there as they put it together. I wish that I was around when they created something as amazing at Don. Do you understand?"

"Of course I do," Goten snapped. "I'm not the baka you think I am."

"Sometimes I wonder."


	3. Book Two: Quest for Agalar - Flight of the King or The Day Vegeta Ran Away

The first thing Vegeta awoke to was a siren. A damn police siren. He sat up and instantly wondered if he had fallen alseep in front of the television again. Then it came back to him and he remembered that there was no television.

"Vegeta," Don's calm voice came over the speakers in his room, "I didn't want to wake you but..."

He sighed and tugged on his shoes. "I'm almost afraid to ask what's going on."

"It seems that we were going too fast. There is a ship following us with its light's flashing. Would you like me to stop?"

"You mean to say that a cop is chasing us?!"

Don did his mechanical equivalent to thinking. "Yes, that is what you call them. Police officers."

"Of course stop."

When he made it to be bridge Goten was already there rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Why is there a cop following us?"

"You're asking me?" He sat down in the captain's chair and punched a button on the console to activate the main viewing window. An angry blue-skinned humanoid with pointed ears appeared on the screen. It was a woman, at least they thought so. She had no hair but short blue fur covered all visible skin and ahe was wearing a dark green uniform complete with a matching hat with white trim. "Can we help you officer?"

Her eyes narrowed and she spoke in a language they had never heard in their entire life. They knew she was annoyed, that much was true. At halfway out of the northern section of the universe there was hardly anything to police. There were a few planets that sustained life but they were either not beyond their version of the Middle Ages or completely devoid of space technology.

"I can translate to English Standard if you want me to," Don informed them.

Vegeta waved his hand to give him the go ahead. Goten had already fallen back to sleep in the chair.

"I will not be made a fool of any longer," the words were clear but her accent was thick, "You will allow me to board your ship and issue you a ticket for excessive speed so that I can go home."

"Now wait a minute lady!" He said, irritated. How dare she just come out of no where and try to enforce some law that they had never even heard of before. How could you be going too fast in outerspace? It was mindboggling. But he told Don to open the airlock anyway and after it was depressurized, he let her in.

"You are not from around here, are you?" She looked down at him while tapping the ticket pad against her thigh.

"Are you really going to give us a ticket? We didn't know that we were doing something wrong! Honest!" Vegeta used his charm on her but it seemed that she was oblivious.

"I ask the questions around here, boy!" She shouted this as she whipped out a pen. Goten jerked awake, snorting, and his eyes grew wide as he saw her only a mere few inches from his seat. The officer wrote down something rapidly and pointed to a spot on the paper. "Sign here."

He did as she said, not wanting any more trouble. "And just where the hell do we go to pay this?"

"Galaxy Headquarters," she said as if it should be common knowledge. "You have three days then a fine of one-hundred rubians will be added onto your amount." She ripped the piece of paper from her pad and handed it to Vegeta.

"Um, miss? What's a rubian? Where is your headquarters? What did we do?!" Goten was as confused as it got.

"Officer," Don added a lot of weird noises that they assumed was her surname, "has fined you for speeding. Now you must pay the written amount within three days' time. I can show you where headquarters is located and even how to obtain the proper amount of currency."

"You can do anything!" Goten said in awe.

Don's voice was tinged with faint modesty. "Why thank you."

"Papa is going to kill me," Vegeta groaned. "This is going to take *way* longer than two weeks."

"The space police headquarters for this galaxy is only a few hours away. Officer, if you would be so kind as to tell me the coordinates, you can be on your way." Don was polite to her while Vegeta wanted to murder her.

"Certainly. It's x3495, y2003." She glared at Vegeta and Goten one final time. "Don't make me have to hunt you down because you didn't pay. I may not know what planet you're from now but I'll find out." She nodded briefly in the direction of the place where Don was installed. "Farewell."

As soon as she was gone, Vegeta launched tired that insulted generations of her family and called her the worst names imaginable. Goten just yawned and wondered what some of the profanity meant. Finally he wound down and decided to make a call back to Chikyuu.

"I'm just warning someone we might be a little late. Papa really wants his strength water." Punching in the exact frequency that Gohan and written down, the screen went to static for a few moments before someone appeared on the screen.

"Oh hi Niichan!" Jakina said with a big smile. "What's goin' on?"

"Jackie-chan, why are you in Kaasan's lab?"

"There's a science fair at school and I want to enter. Who else would I go to for help? Papa?" She, Vegeta, and Goten began to laugh at the mere thought of Vegeta assembling a volcano or a model of the universe made entirely out of candy. She ducked off screen for a moment and returned later with her mother in tow. Waving, she walked away.

"What's the problem?" Bulma asked with a smile. "Did you get lost?"

"Kaasan, did you know that there were space police?"

She shook her head with a puzzled expression. "No... I've only been in space once with Krillin and Gohan and we never got pulled over by the cops. Wait, I'll transfer the call to your father. He would know better than I would." A few seconds and a few more button presses later, the call was taken by Vegeta.

"The Space Police, eh? They are just as annoying as ningen cops."

"How come you didn't tell us about them?" V. J. was beyond mad.

"You didn't ask," he said in a bland voice.

"We got a ticket for speeding Vegeta-ojisan!" Goten told him. "Now we gotta go and pay it at Galaxy Headqarters. Vegeta just wanted to call so that you wouldn't freak out and send tousan after us if we're a little late."

"Whatever," Vegeta said, "I'm hanging up. Call me again when you actually get to Agalar." Then he disconnected the call before either could say anything else.

"That was rude," Goten frowned slightly.

"Yes," the A.I. agreed, "it was."

"Don, please set a course for this Galaxy's Space Police Headquarters. Take the fasted route possible to get there."

"If I use the hyperdrive and make a jump, we should be there within a few hours."

"Okay, do it." Vegeta commanded.

"But if I *do* use the hyperdrive, it may have to be repaired soon after. Bulma hasn't really tested it yet."

"I don't think kaasan has tested any aspect of this ship," Vegeta mused. "How long would it take without warp speed?"

"A day."

"Do it then," he told him. "We have to be on our way before this day is over."

"Vegeta!" Goten protested. "Buma-san hasn't tested this yet! Something bad could happen!"

The other young man grinned at him. "What would you rather experience, asphyxiation in the vacuum of space or being slowly burned to death by a ki blast that has left my father's hand?"

Goten nodded toward where Don's hardware existed. "What are you waiting for Don? Let's get to it!"

He leaned back into his chair and laced his fingers behind his head. "I knew you would see it my way."

***

All of the paperwork was slowly driving Vegeta insane. It seemed that the humans didn't have anything better to do but propose silly laws or fight stupid wars. When Goku deposited another armfull of documents onto his already crowded desk, he slammed his hands down on the table and jumped to his feet.

"That's it!" he shouted. "I can't sit here any longer looking over inane documents!" He waited for Goku to say something, but merely looked at him placidly. Vegeta growled and glared at him.

"What do you want me to say Veggie-chan?" he asked.

"Your line is 'Everything will be fine Veggie-chan! I'll take over from here!' and then I'm supposed to comment on how stupid you are and you're going to do something to prove it like hugging me or something."

"Not this time." He began to turn away and leave the room.

"Let's do something today, Kakarott!" Vegeta said in an extremely desperate voice. "We can spend that 'best-buddy time' you so often talk about."

"Wow, Vegeta. You must really need to get away." Then a huge grin spead across his face. "Let's go!"

As soon as he said those two words, Vegeta was regretting even bringing it up. He knew that he had a sort of warrior bond with the man, but he really didn't want to spend time with him. Even if he did act intelligent now and then. He scribbled a quick note and taped it to his desk chair just in case anyone came looking for him. Goku grabbed his arm and a moment later they teleported away. The door opened just as they vanished.

"Oh Papa!" Bra called as she carried in yet another stack of paper. She saw the yellow Post-It note and read it quickly. Here eyes widened and she ran from the room, waving the paper in the air.

"Kaasan! Papa ran away!"

***

The stars litterally 'popped' into view when they made the transition back into normal space. A large, brightly lit space station stood before them in the darkness.

"This must be the Galaxy Headquarters," Vegeta said aloud. He had gotten himself a snack and Goten had once again fallen asleep in his chair. Don maneuvered the ship skillfully towards the docking area and cut the power.

"I will guard the ship until your return," he said as Vegeta woke Goten. As soon as the words rang in the air, there was a loud clanking sound and then a slight rattle.

"What the hell was that?!" Vegeta asked in surprise.

"*That*," Don said, "was the hyperdrive. It went, as you say, kaput. By the way that sounded, you may need a replacement. These people here may have even better and faster technology."

"I knew it!" Goten moaned. "There's no telling how long we'll be stranded here!"

"Did I explain myself incorrectly, Goten?" Don inquired. "If so, I apologize. The hyperdrive in need of repair, but the rest of the ship is perfectly fine. You do not need the hyperdriver to operate this ship."

"First things first," V.J. bent down and slid on his boots. "We need to pay that damn ticket."

Goten scratched his head. "Oh yeah! I had forgotten all about that."

V.J. hit him before he carefully folded the ticket to put into his pocket. "Baka."

"There should be somewhere to exchange your money close to the entrance."

"Don, what if they don't accept our yen?"

"Oh," he said in his calm voice, "then they may be a problem. If that occurs, I suggest you two get jobs."

"Me? Working?" Vegeta's voice rose two octaves.

"What's wrong, rich boy? Afraid to stoop down to the peasant level?" Goten asked.

"It's not that," he answered in a low voice. "It's just..." His voice dropped even lower. "I don't know how to do anything."

"We'll see about that when we get to it," Goten grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the ship and down the small bridge toward the elevator that would take them to the first level.

***

"What is this place?" Vegeta asked his companion when he returned from purchasing food.

Goku handed him a large soda and dug into his cheese fries. "Satan City Bowl. You've never been before?"

"Of course not!" He glanced around at all the people that was in that place even in early evening. So far Goku had taken him to one baseball game, one arcade, and one outdoor rock concert. Surprisingly, he was having fun.

Then he became confused when they had to rent shoes that someone else's feet had been in already. Goku just cheerfully requested a pair for each of them (how he knew his shoe size was beyond him) and left him at a lane.

"This is how it works," Goku said. First you put your name into the machine here." He pressed in G-O-K-U. Vegeta followed with K-I-N-G V-E-G-E-T-A.

"Um, okay," Goku was beyond amused. "I go first."

Sitting down his fries, he walked to the ball rack behind him and motioned for Vegeta to follow. "Each ball weighs differently, so you have to pick one that's perfect for you." Goku swept top-to-bottom for the perfect ball and found it in dark blue. Vegeta soon found a black one. "Now this is the important part. You aim for the arrows on the floor depending on what pin you are trying to hit. The object of the game, Veggie, is to knock them all down on the first try."

"That's easy," he smirked as he took a seat.

"I use this lane," he motioned to the left, "and you use that one. Okay?" Then Goku showed him where to put his fingers and executed a smooth throw and the ball headed straight for the center pin. He tensed up and held his breath until all ten had fallen down.

"You see?" Vegeta said as he retrieved his ball from the holder. He walked to the edge of the foul line stared hard at the center pin and was just about to throw it when a loud, human female shrieked out a question.

"Hey! Isn't that Vegeta-oui?!"

Instead of the ball gliding effortlessly down the lane, he dropped it directly onto his right foot. Vegeta hissed in pain.

"SHIT!"

"Are you alright Vegeta?" Goku asked worriedly.

"I'm fine," he forced out between gritted teeth. "But I am ready to kill that ningen."

Goku immediately decided to shoo away the small crowd of spectators. It wouldn't do to have the headlines reading 'VEGETA-OUI KILLS SUBJECTS IN FIT OF RAGE'. He had just about suceeded when Bulma strode into the alley with the kids and ChiChi right behind her.

"How dare you run off to play games with Goku!" She shouted at him.

"Bulma please!" Vegeta was over the throbbing of his toes. "I needed a break!"

Everyone crowded around the two lanes to whitness the royal argument. Bulma realized what was going on and shut up. "Vegeta, dear, you go ahead and bowl with Goku. We're just going to watch. And place bets," she added in a whisper to ChiChi.

Vegeta felt as if his honor was all riding on a bowling competition with Goku. So what did he do?

"I accept the challenge."

 

Now does anyone want me to elaborate about the match, or just continue directly onto Vegeta and Goten's dilemma?


	4. Book Two: Quest for Agalar - Space City Astra

They emerged into a bustling room filled with people they had never seen before. There were short green ones and centipede looking red ones and even a few Lyz'da who recognized the prince from the video broadcasts on their planet. They were the only one who even took notice of them, however, and that left Goten and Vegeta looking a little lost.

The room was as large as a lobby and there were hallways going everywhere with signs beside them in languages that they couldn't read. In the middle of the marble floor there was a desk where a small, fuzzy alien sat typing. They didn't need to know the language to figure out that the sign above it read 'Information Desk'. But there was a long line in front of it and they didn't have time to wait in it.

There were some weird, blue -glowing squares on the floor in some areas and the aliens that stepped upon them disappeared completely. If you looked up you could see the various levels of the city. It looked as if the Headquarters was just a small part of a much larger city.

"Um excuse me," Goten said to one passing alien. He was as big as a bear and just as hairy with small, beady black eyes and wicked looking teeth. "Can you tell me where I can go to exchange my money?" He bared those teeth at the young man and he cringed.

"You don't need to worry," a female Lyz'da said as she stopped beside him. She was tall with short cut pale silver hair. She was dressed in a red jumpsuit with an emblem on her chest neither demi-saiyan couldn't read and was holding a black briefcase. "His kind, the Kuma-jin, they do that in greeting."

"But still, I think I'll feel safer with you." The Kuma-jin did his race's equivalent to a shrug and walked away.

"You're a baby Goten!" Vegeta laughed even though he was looking a little pale himself.

"I guess I can help you, Vegeta-ouji and Goten." She motioned for them to follow her and they all stepped onto moving sidewalks. "My name is Lizza and I'm a trader." She shot them a meaningful look. "*Nothing* illegal, you understand me? The space laws are brutal."

Vegeta nodded with a smile. "You don't have to be so guarded with your words. Papa's not in charge of the universe."

"Still, our planet is under his rule." She stepped off the 'sidewalk' into another room and they followed. "If you go down that hallway and make a right, you should be right near an exchange office. They exchange twenty different currencies into rubians and they're always adding more."

"Thanks a lot," he smiled at her. "I'll make sure you get paid for your help."

Her eyes widened and she shook her head. "Oh no. You don't have to do that. I helped because I wanted to."

"At least let me buy you dinner," he insisted. "We would have been wandering this place for days!"

Lizza laughed, her silver eyes twinkling. "Alright then. Meet me at Rugaro's at," she glanced at a nearby wall clock. "eighteen."

Goten frowned and looked at his watch. "The numbers only go up to twelve!"

"Baka!" Vegeta hit him. This has become at regular routine. "Eighteen hundred hours is a military term. She means six o'clock."

"Why do you always hit me?" Goten whined. "I'm not stupid!" The other young man remained silent despite what he was thinking.

"So it's all set then!" Lizza grinned. "Well, now I have to go deliver these documents to the Trade Office. The Department will be after me if I forget again."

"So this place is like a station for everyone in this section of the universe?" Goten asked.

"Oh yes. Many people come here to take a rest between missions or trips. You can catch up on all of the news and rumors as well as upgrade your ship."

"Thanks a lot," Vegeta smiled. "See you at eighteen."

She nodded. "See ya."

The two hybrids walked on down the hallway past at least twenty different doors before the next intersection. During their trek, dozens of different aliens went in and out of these rooms so much that they were tempted to ask them what they were doing. But common sense prevailed and both realized that it wasn't wise ask too many questions. People might get suspicious for all the wrong reasons.

After turning right onto a smaller, shorted hallway, they found the exchange office pretty easily. There was a long line, around thirty-five people, in front of it.

"Danm it!" Vegeta cursed, loudly. "Why is it that everywhere we need to go, everyone else needs to do the same?" Several people turned around and he glared at them until they faced forward again.

"Be quiet, V.J.!" Goten hissed. "You're embarrassing me!"

Vegeta crossed his arms across his chest and frowned as the line moved forward one person. "I just think there should be more than one person working up there."

"Aren't there other exchange offices?" Goten asked. A pale blue female who looked remarkably human with just a different skin pigmentation snorted. She wore a uniform and carried both a gun and a sword by her side. "They're all like this on the Day of Commerce." She laughed. "I guess I should introduce myself, eh? I'm Kallen of the Rhistal Imperial Army. We travel the universe attempting to keep the peace between worlds."

"I'm Vegeta Briefs Jr. but everyone calls me V.J." Vegeta grinned. "This baka next to me is Son Goten."

"I am *not* a baka!"

The woman looked puzzled. "What is this 'baka' you speak of?"

"It's an insult," he explained. "It literally means 'idiot'."

"I see."

"What's the Day of Commerce?" Goten asked partially to get them off the subject of that word.

"Today is the day that hundreds of different merchants make their way to the Trading Floor to hawk their wares. As with all planets and stations, there are some that you should watch out for. Their items may be illegal, fake, or faulty. Since there are so many different currencies coming in, thousands of people eventually find their way to one of the seventy-five Exchange Booths. The one closest to the Trading Floor always has the longest line." She blinked as if just realizing something. "Goten, you look remarkably similar to the people who own a booth down on the Floor. They sell armor and battle training."

The two demi-saiyans exchanged glances with each other. 'Is she for real?' Goten asked his friend mentally. It was a skill he had newly acquired from his father but he had never used it until now.

'I have no idea but she doesn't have any reason to lie to us. Kallen's just met us!'

Goten nodded in agreement and turned back to their new acquaintance. They chatted about everything under the stars for about an hour when finally she was the only one before them.

"My feet are starting to ache!" Vegeta had been fidgeting for the last thirty minutes and now, fed up, he sat himself down onto the dark marble and took his boots off to rub his feet.

"Hey!" Goten held his nose. "I don't want to smell that!"

"Ha, ha." He said sarcastically while rubbing a few seconds longer. He stood back up and wrinkled his nose as he caught a whiff of Goten. "*I* took a shower this morning, Goten. When was the last time *you* were reacquainted with soap and water?"

He pretended to think. "Um, it was only yesterday evening. I had been training and you complained that I smelled like a swamp so I took a shower. This morning I couldn't wait to see something new so I..." He trailed off, blushing faintly.

"You forgot to bathe," V.J. finished dryly.

"Um, hai." He turned slightly to face front again and to his horror, both Kallen and the man behind the exchange counter were trying not to laugh. His face became brighter and he looked down at the floor.

Vegeta pushed him out of the way when at last Kallen stepped away from the counter. She smiled at them both and carefully folded the bills into a wallet.

"So, I'll see you guys around?" she asked.

"Sure!" Goten smiled. "We'll be here until probably tomorrow 'cause we have to pay a little traffic ticket but then we're on our way to Agalar."

"Agalar, huh?" she frowned, having heard that name before but not able to place it. "How about we meet somewhere before you go tomorrow? The Lobby of the docking bay should be okay. There's a cafe off the main hallway there and I have to be going tomorrow as well."

"Today we make dinner plans, tomorrow breakfast." Vegeta grinned. "I'm just so popular with the ladies."

This time it was Goten's turn to hit someone. "Conceited baka."

"Well, you know it comes with the genetics." He then proceeded to pull out his wallet and show his money to the man sitting there. "This is Japanese yen. We would like to exchange it for some rubians."

The short, large-eyed yellow alien took a magnifying glass and peered at the ten-thousand yen bill. He turned it every which way and finally shrugged and said in a deep voice:

"I have never seen anything like that before in my entire life."

"What about this?" Goten dug up a crumpled fifty dollar bill from his pocket. The short yellow guy took it and reached under the desk for the the two-hundred rubian equivalent. Vegeta stood there, eyes wide, as the man deposited the money into Goten's hand.

"Will there be any more transactions today, sirs?"

"You can exchange American dollars but you can't exchange Japanese yen?!"

He nodded. "Every week, people with that money come here all of the time. They have a few booths on the Floor. If your people would secure a booth, then we would be able to exchange your currency."

He stood there, stunned, as Goten led him back down the hallway where they came from.

"I can't believe it! If you didn't have that money, we would have been stuck here for a week or more!" He dropped to his knees in front of his friend. "I'm eternally grateful!"

The young man raised an eyebrow in shock but it became embarrassment when he began kissing his boot."

"Um, Vegeta? People are beginning to stare..."

He jumped to his feet and grabbed him around the waist in a hug. "I'm just so happy that you saved me from one of my Papa's beatings! A few days he can tolerate but not another week!"

Goten, ever affectionate, hugged him back. "It's not that big of a deal." He said after they had released each other. "Now, how about we find the Space Police's headquarters?"

"Great!"

***

Kallen soaked in relaxation in the hot spings that the Eru Health Spa were reknown for. She had saved up the money for months for this well-earned vacation and unfortunately it would all come to and end tomorrow. Then she would be once again responsible for one-hundred cadets-in-training that had no idea which end of the gun the bullets came out of. Sinking even further into the water, she contemplated her fate.

She had high hopes when she was a little girl on Alia. Well, as high as females were allowed to dream there anyway. Kallen was born into a family of six -- two parents and four older, male siblings. She watched her brothers grow older and move on, most to the universities for higher learning. But one, Cale, went straight to the Imperial Army office on their planet the day of his twenty-first birthday and signed up. Her parents were beyond stricken but she was instantly taken with their work.

To Kallen, what the Imperial Army stood for was everything that she wanted to attain: glory, honor, and discipline. But few ever made it and even fewer were women. Once she was old enough to sign up, however, she did so anyway to prove that women were just as good at everything men were.

If her parents were angry at Cale, then they were furious with her. Her father said that she should be married to a nice young man while her mother said that she didn't want to see her hurt. Despite everything, Kallen graduated from the Imperial Academy at the top of her class and moved on to become Lieutenant of her sector. Unfortunately due to lack of training officers, she had to take on cadets fresh from the Academy. The fellow officers of her rank talked about it for a straight week. Some said that she was demoted while others said that she just wasn't competent in battle. Before she left the main base, she had submitted a promotion request form to the general and hopefully he would allow it.

"Mistress Kallen, here's your drink," the polite young woman that waited on the spa members told her. She took it from her with thanks.

Just as she closed her eyes for a little more rest, she remembered just why Agalar sounded familiar to her. Sitting up quickly and almost knocking over her glass, she grabbed the towel that had been lying beside her on the tiles and took off as fast as she could for the locker rooms.

She had to stop them before they left.

***

The Trading Floor was larger than Kallen had made it seem. Both hybrids had pictured something along the lines of a convention, less than one-hundred booths but this room, and two other levels above it, held almost six-hundred different booths to cater to everyone's needs. It was a merchant bonanza.

"Ooooh!" Goten said in awe. "This is a great place! I'm glad we already paid that ticket."

"We are only going to stay here a few hours," Vegeta informed him. "Besides, how much American money do you have on you anyway?"

"Well, about twenty more dollars."

He stuck his hand out with a sigh. "Hand over your money."

"Why? I'm responsible!"

"Hand. Over. Your. Money. I won't ask again."

Goten rolled his eyes and gave him the two-hundred rubians he had received at the exchange booth. Vegeta took pocketed one-hundred fifty. Fifty for the ticket and seventy-five spending money. Goten pouted at the seventy-five he had remaining.

"What am I supposed to be able to buy with this?" he asked.

"You'll find something. If you run out of money, just go exchange it but meet me back at the entrance to the Floor in exactly TWO HOURS. Synchronize your watch."

He blinked. "Syn-chro-nize?"

"Make your watch's time exactly match mine, bakayaro."

"I'm not going to take that crap from you much longer," he glared at him as he checked his watch. "I'm telling tousan when we get home."

"Wittle baby Goten can't take a little teasing from someone three years younger than he is. How pathetic."

"You are such a bastard."

He smirked. "I know." He tapped his watch's face and nodded. "Two hours. No more."

"Fine, fine. Have fun, bastard."

"I will, baka."

***

Goten was in paradise on the second level. While the first level was for technology and the third level for consumer goods, the second was completely reserved for food of all kind. Goten's nose was constantly teased by the aromas of honey glazed buns, spicy beef dishes, and savory steaks. More than once, he had to catch himself before he drooled on the head of someone shorter than he was. Just looking at all of that food was torture seeing as he only had seventy-five rubians to his name. That wouldn't even get him an appetizer.

But thank kami for free samples.

"Mokla!" One young woman called out holding a tray with square, chocolate-like candies that were filled with something similar to caramel. "Free samples!" Before she could get the words out of her mouth, Goten was there with his hand extended. She allowed him to take one on a napkin then held the tray away when he hand moved back for another.

"Only one per person!"

"Aw, please? Can I have one more?" He made the pitiful look he and his father were famous for. The brown-haired woman sighed and lowered the tray.

"Here. *One* more."

"Thanks a lot!" He smiled at her and moved on.

"Son Goten!" Kallen called out to him as she dodged the hundreds of people on the floor. "Son Goten!" His sensitive saiyan hearing heard her first and he turned around to greet her.

"What brings you here?" he asked. "By the way, you can just call me Goten."

She panted, trying to catch her breath. She thought that she would find them here, it drew majority of the visitors to Astra after all. "Goten I have something to tell you about Agalar and it's very, very important!"

"Let's go find V.J. then," he said with concern. "He's on the lower level."

Despite herself, a smile crossed her face briefly. "That's where all of the weird stuff usually ends up. People try to sell you Smell-o-vision TVs, waffle-making VCRs, and talking toaster ovens. Is your friend dumb enough to buy something like that?"

"I don't know. He isn't usually. But if he buys a singing blender I'll kill him."

 

Next upon on the New Age Empire: The bowling tournament ends and V.J. and Goten find out what the deal is with Agalar.


	5. Book Two: Quest for Agalar - Of Magical Springs and Hidden Catches

A huge crowd gathered about the king and his commander as everyone heard about the match. Bulma, ChiChi, and the kids took seats right in front and took bets from the surrounding onlookers. Around sixty percent bet on Goku, and the remaining forty percent were all Vegeta's.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Goku asked with concern. He would never hear the end of it if Vegeta was humiliated.

"Of course I am, Kakarott!" He said with a smirk. "I can't lose!"

"Vegeta, this is your first time. I can let you win..."

"You better not, Kakarott. I am able to win *without* your help."

"Okay..." he trailed off with a very worried frown. "Go ahead. It's your turn."

Vegeta aimed for the middle arrow, drew his arm back, and let the ball go as hard as he could. No one could see it rolling and it knocked the pins over into the neighboring lanes coming to a stop only when it created a hole in the wall and hit a parked car in the lot. Everyone peered through the hole it created out into the sunshine and Goku groaned.

"I should have told you *not* to throw it hard."

Ten minutes later they had another lane. This time Vegeta threw it with only a fraction of his strength and it went straight into the gutter. His second try wasn't much better.

"Hey Papa!" Trunks shouted from the audience. "Do you want bumpers?" Goku explained at his confused look.

"Bumpers are things they inflate in the gutters for children so that the ball doesn't go into them. I'd say it would be embarrassment level three for you." Goku had invented a humilation rating scale for his king since no one wanted Vegeta to freak out and kill someone. Things like babysitting and washing dishes were only at one while the most extreme, holding lacy underwear for Bulma in the lingerie department, was level five.

"Then forget it then," he said as Goku took his turn and got a strike. "Vegeta-oui will not be using 'bumpers' to keep his ball out of the gutter." He lined up the ball again, squatted down, and before Goku could stop him pushed the ball with both hands down the lane.

"You thought *that* would be more dignified than the bumpers?" the commander asked with amusement as four pins fell over.

He blinked in surprise. "You mean I can't do that?"

The larger saiyan waved his arm at the crowd and Vegeta could hear the smothered snickers and the outright laughs from his family. "Ya think?"

"Kakarott," he growled. "Explain what I need to do to keep myself from looking stupid."

"Win," he answered simply.

"That's all?"

"That's all."

***

Vegeta wandered around the huge room with his mouth hanging open in the most unprincely manner. He had grown up around technology all of his life so seeing what other planets and cultures had invented was extremely interesting.

Some things that they had on Chikyuu like cooking devices, sound transmitters, and media recorders were the same although slightly different. You don't change a good thing, you should only improve on it.

In the back, among booths for waterproof clothing and fire resistent aprons, was a lone booth that not many people stopped to look at. In fact, many people were giving it a wide berth. A fierce looking, dark-haired man sat behind the large display of armor and weaponry and the look he was giving passerbys were so frightening it was obvious why he had no customers. Vegeta wasn't afraid, though, and he stopped by to look over a piece of tough-looking leather-like armor.

"What do you want?" The tall, slightly overweight man grunted. He asked the question in a hostile way but Vegeta sensed that it just came out that way. As if the speaker had no control over his tone. The young man brushed it away and motioned to the breastplate.

"What is that made of?" The big guy looked a little puzzled so a smaller, thinner man pushed him slightly out of the way with a smile. He had large, friendly eyes with no frown lines between them and wore a casual outfit of shorts and a tee-shirt.

"Go sit over there, Jas, you're frightening away all of the customers. He turned back to Vegeta with a smile on his face. "I'm sorry about that, sir. I was on my coffee break and I left him here to guard our merchandise. No one in their right mind would try to steal something with him around." He lifted the breastplate from its hook and ran his hand across the material.

"This is from a now extinct animal from the third planet in the Ryu System. It was a quadrupedal, furry creature with a *very* tough hide."

Vegeta nodded along as if he understood what the heck he was saying. Eventually his voice became background noise as he studied his features.

'He doesn't look that much like Goten,' he thought. 'The only thing they have in common is the hair color and the eye color.'

"Um, sir?" The man waved his hand in front of his face. Vegeta blinked once and shook his head.

"I'm sorry. But anyway, I was just curious because I've never seen anything like it."

"Where are you from?" he asked with interest.

"Chikyuu. It's in the Milky Way Galaxy in the norther part of the universe. This is my first trip to space and I only came here at first to pay a traffic ticket."

The man made a face. "Yeah. Those Space Police do too good of a job."

"VEGETA!" A voice shouted from behind. He turned to see Kallen and Goten dodging people and running in his direction.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"Kallen said it was urgent. Something about Agalar. She- Huh?" Stopping in mid-word, he looked down to see the young man that was formerly behind the counter hugging him around the midsection. Goten scratched his head and shot Vegeta a look that clearly read, 'What the heck is going on?'. His friend shrugged and everyone turned to the sobbing dark-haired man.

"Um, why are you hugging me?" he asked him.

"Papa! At last I meet you!" This really put a confused expression on Goten's face.

"How can I be your father? I'm only twenty-three! Besides, I don't have any kids!"

Sniffling, he looked up. "I have a picture, right here." Digging into his back pocket, he pulled out a wallet and showed them all the faded, black-and-white photo. "My mother told me about you. How great of a warrior you were, how you always lead your men to victory, how-"

"I may be a warrior but I never had an army. Besides, that looks like my tousan!" He glanced at Vegeta. "Doesn't it?"

"Hai, it sure does. But it also looks exactly like you."

"Tousan?" the man asked, confused.

"It means father," Goten explained. "By the way, what's your name?"

"Taura," he smiled. "This really looks like *your* papa?"

"Uh huh," he nodded. "Everyone says I look exactly like him."

"This is touching but I *really* have something to tell you guys!" Kallen finally spoke up after holding back her urgent information.

"Oh yeah that's right!" Goten exclaimed. "I forgot all about that!"

"You baka!" Both Vegeta and Kallen cried out in unison.

He cringed. "I wish you were never told the meaning of that word, Kallen."

She pulled them both closer to them and took a deep breath. "In the Academy I had a class called Myths and Legends of the Universe. In it we studied all of the strange things people pass on from generation to generation. Well, the professor made us do extensive reasearch and a large report on the Springs of Agalar." She shook her head. "What I found out doesn't sound too good for you two."

"Nani?" Vegeta asked, accidentally slipping into Japanese. "I mean, what?"

"The Springs can give the drinker certain abilities and powers depending on which one they drank from. But there are catches."

"Go on," he said, not sure he wanted to hear how many.

"First of all, you have to complete trials in order for the true Springs to be revealed to you. If you decide to skip them and take a drink from the Springs that you *do* find, you will die."

"No problem! What else is there?"

"Two, an hour after the true Springs appear the water becomes completely useless and the drinker finds himself holding a glass of plain water. In order for the water to retain it's power, you must only bottle it in special containers."

Both demi-saiyans nodded with understanding. Goten spoke. "Then we'll buy the containers. How much to they cost?"

"Sad to say, no one has been able to find them in at least a millenia. That's one of the reasons why the Springs still have their power. The second is because no one can find the map either."

"We have the map!" Goten said excitedly. "The Lyz'da gave it to us!"

"Oh really?" she clearly didn't believe him.

"Goten, be quiet!" Vegeta looked around quickly to see if someone had been listening. The only one besides them was Taura and he looked easy enough to hurt. He never saw the dark figure slip back among the crowd of the Trading Floor.

"Look," he said as low as he could against the noise of the crowd, "meet us at our spaceship at Dock Ten at twenty-hundred hours. We'll talk then."

"Can I come too?" Taura looked so eager Goten didn't have the heart to say no. Besides, he wanted to keep tabs on him after the whole 'you're my father' thing. Did his own tousan have another child he wasn't telling anyone about? It didn't seem very likely. Besides, the man in the picture wasn't wearing Goku's familiar orange gi. As if anyone could tell what color his clothes were in a black-and-white photo.

"Fine but be quiet and stay out of the conversation," Vegeta told him. "I don't want to have to 'enforce the rules'. You get what I'm saying?"

Taura look from the prince's expression to the muscles in his arms and swallowed, hard. "Uh yeah. Sure."

"Good."

***

Goku was leading his king by sixty-nine points in the fourth frame and those who had bet on Vegeta were regretting it completely. Vegeta sat next to Bulma glaring at his bowling ball in the return wondering if something was wrong with the thing. After Goku got a spare in the fifth frame, Vegeta pulled him aside out of earshot of even the demi-saiyans and asked him to lose on purpose.

"Are you sure?" Goku asked. Vegeta nodded impatiently. "Are you *really* sure?" Again, he nodded. "Are you ultra super positive?"

"I'M REALLY SURE BAKAYARO!" This caused everyone in their area turned their heads to see where the shouting was coming from.

Goku grinned. "I just don't want you mad at me later, my king." He thought it couldn't hurt to add a title. As it were, Vegeta practically swelled up with pleasure.

" 'My king'," he repeated. "I could get to like that." Picking up his black bowling ball from the return, he aimed and let it go for his first strike of the evening. He fought the urge to jump for joy and instead smirked at the crowd as Goku stepped forward for his turn.

"If I get zero points from frames six to ten, you still need to get at least three strikes to beat me."

"Damn it," Vegeta cursed softly. "I should have taken up your offer in the beginning. Curse my pride."

Goku almost dropped his ball in awe. "I can't believe you just said that."

"Believe it," he growled.

The taller saiyan moved up to the lane and appeared to be carefully lining up his shot. Then he let it go and angeled it on purpose so it went straight into the gutter. No one could believe that it happened.

"Oopsie," he said with a small smile. "I guess I'm slipping."

Both Bulma and ChiChi knew immediately what was going on and neither liked it. In their opinion, Vegeta was acting like a spoiled royal brat by whining about winning and Goku was making himself look foolish by suddenly getting scratches after so many strikes and spares. But this would probably be on the news and in the paper by the looks of the reporters that showed up halfway through and it would be best if Vegeta *did* win. But then again, maybe if the people saw that their king wasn't perfect, they would feel closer to him. There wasn't a clear answer.

"What should he do, ChiChi?" Bulma asked with concern.

"He should do his best but unfortunately that involves him beating Vegeta."

"But if Vegeta sees that something good can come from loosing, he wouldn't mind if it happened."

"You mean *when* it happens," the other woman corrected.

"Hai," Bulma frowned at her. "When." She walked over to them right before Goku used his second ball and drew them together. "Look, we don't think it's right that he's letting you win Veggie-chan."

He frowned. "What do you mean? I'm the king around here!"

"Exactly that! Just because you're king doesn't mean you should automatically be the best at everything. That's just not how it works." He opened his mouth to object. "I don't care how they did it on Vegeta-sei! If you haven't noticed by now, you aren't there!"

"If you lose Vegeta," Goku began. "and be a good sport about it then everyone gets to see how wonderful a person you are. There *are* such things as bad winners."

"And you would be one of them," Bulma informed him dryly

"I don't understand."

"If you won, Vegeta, you would be pointing fingers into Son-kun's face and shouting 'I'm better than you are! I'm better than you are!'. Is that how you want those people out there *and* the media to see you? The king who can't win gracefully but must rub it into the loser's face?"

Now that she put it that way, that didn't seem like a good idea to her mate. "Iie, I guess not."

"Good!" Goku grinned. "Then it's settled. I can win." He returned to the lane and bowled a spare before Vegeta could do little more than sputter.

"I didn't say that!"

"Doesn't matter," Bulma called over her shoulder as she returned to her seat. All Vegeta could do was fume silently.

***

The dinner with Lizza had gone surprisingly well. Even though they had no idea what they were eating most of the time, it tasted pretty good seeing as it was similar to wait they ate on Chikyuu. They said goodbye to her at nineteen and made their way back to Dock Ten.

"Take a shower," Vegeta told Goten while holding his nose. "You're becoming unbearable."

He sniffed himself. "I don't smell anything."

"Maybe your nose is becoming as senseless as your brain."

It took him a moment to get that but when he did it wasn't pretty. "Screw you, bastard." he growled and stomped off toward the bathroom. Vegeta merely shook his head in faint amusement and walked over to the computer console.

"Don I need you to do a scan of the map and save it into the system. Just in case someone who shouldn't gets their hands on the ring." He took the point of a ink pen and pushed the button and the projection appeared against the wall. "Can you cut the lights in this room down to one percent of their power and use our faces for visual recognition?"

"Done and done. No one other than you and Goten will be able to access the record."

"Thank you," he smiled as the pale yellow rectangle with black print appeared on the wall. He studied it for a moment, hoping that they hadn't missed something important, and found nothing. By this time Goten was finished with his shower and making his way toward their gravity chamber to train.

"Goten!" Vegeta called out to him, hoping he still wasn't angry at him. "Do you want to spar until Kallen and that boy gets here?"

The other hybrid nodded and a small smile appeared on his face. "Are you done callin' me a baka?"

"Hai. For today."

"Good. That's all I can ask for."

Less than an hour later Taura and Kallen were allowed inside the ship by Don who, after scanning their thoughts, found no harmful intent whatsoever. The sudden lowering of gravity alerted both Vegeta and Goten to their presence.

"Oh hi!" Goten smiled at them as he grabbed a towel. "Is it twenty already?"

Both Kallen and Taura had seen them sparring before the Don lowered the gravity. Sort of. Neither of them could explain what they were after seeing them though. There was a tribe of warriors in a southern galaxy that were amazing but Vegeta and Goten were beyond even that. It left them speechless.

"What's wrong?" V.J. asked as he pulled on his shirt.

"What are you?" Kallen asked in awe. "I thought Goten was similar in physique to Taura and Jas but..."

After sighing, Vegeta led them from the room and into the kitchen. He sat down at the table and focused on the wood. "You might as well know. It's not as if we're ashamed or anything..."

"Nope, it's not that." Goten agreed.

"We're hybrids," he told them, "Saiyan hybrids. Of course, no relation."

"Hopefully."

"Ah, I see." Kallen said. "I read about them. There are a lot of rumors regarding the old saiyan race of Vegeta-sei."

"Yeah it's no big deal." Taura said this with a smile. "My papa's one." He said this casually but this made Goten and Vegeta look at him in shock."

"How many people look like my tousan?" Goten asked no one in particular. "I've got to talk to them."

Rushing over to the console, he proceeded to dial Chikyuu.

 

I'd finished chapter four of book two Friday but since fanfiction.net has been down since then (today's 7-29) I decided to go ahead and write chapter five. Six will be coming soon! (And this time the tournament *will* end.)


	6. Book Two: Quest for Agalar - The Knowledge of Space

Gohan answered his call, much to Goten's surprise, and he smiled in greeting.

"How's it going out there in space, Goten? Having fun?"

"Niichan!" he wailed. "Tousan has another kid we don't know about!"

The look on Gohan's face was priceless. "He *what*?" He saw his younger brother motion to Taura behind him and the other young man bravely stepped forward. "He's even younger than I am!"

"Is this your brother?" he asked Goten. "My, he looks a lot like you."

"It seems everyone does these days," Vegeta couldn't help but say.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Taura. I'm a merchant." He puffed up with pride. "I saved all of the money myself to buy my own business and now I trade on the Floor!"

"Er, nice." He turned to see Bulma stomping back into the lab with a frown on her face. "Um, Bulma-san? I think you need to hear this."

"What is it Gohan? I'm not in the best mood right now. That stupid Vegeta threw a tantrum in the bowling alley because he lost."

"That sounds about right." Vegeta smirked.

"Oh!" she looked at the screen as if she had just noticed it was there. "Um, hi. I'm Vegeta's mother."

Neither Taura nor Kallen answered her. The younger of the two scratched his head and asked the question both were thinking. "Miss Bulma-san? How can Vegeta be both here *and* there at the same time?"

She laughed. "Vegeta, my son, is there. Vegeta, my mate, is here. Oh, here he comes now."

"I was this close to a strike Kakarott! I swear it!" He held up two fingers to illustrate. They were mere millimeters apart. "Then the damn ball just swerved off to the side and right into the gutter!"

"I told you that you should have gotten the bumpers Papa!" Trunks laughed.

"Hell no!"

"Tousan," Gohan started as his father came into view of the screen. He wanted to ask him calmly but Goten interrupted him.

"YOU CHEATED ON KAASAN!" he screamed at him.

"Huh?" Was all he said. "What are you talking about, son?"

"Wow! You two do look similar, Goten!" Taura said as he peered closer. "Papa! I finally meet you!"

Everyone except Gohan gasped and turned to look at him. This included Bulma, ChiChi, Vegeta, and all of the kids. Just as ChiChi was about go pull some sort of weapon from her interdimensional storage space, Goku said something.

"I have no idea what he's talking about. I only have three children; Gohan, Goten, and Mia."

"There you have it." Gohan said calmly. "Tousan doesn't lie about anything."

"I have a picture right here," Taura dug it out and pressed it to the screen. "This is my papa. My mother gave me the picture."

"Wait a second, that's not tousan!" Gohan gasped just as his father said 'That's not me!'. "That's Tares!"

"Who?" Asked just about everyone there.

"He was this saiyan that came to Chikyuu when Gohan was just a child and planted a tree, the Shinseiju, that stole all of the planet's life energy. That was about, I'd say, twenty-five years ago." Goku explained. He nodded at the young man and Kallen's surprised look. "Hai, Gohan's thirty-two. Saiyans age really well. But unfortunately, Tares did look exactly like me."

"Did?" Taura asked.

"Yes," he looked down. "Sad to say I had to create a Genki-Dama and kill him. He was evil and refused to reform."

"Personally," Vegeta said suddenly, "I think he looks remarkably like Bardock, Kakarott's father. Without the scar across his left cheek of course."

"My tousan?" Goku asked with interest. "You've met him before?"

He snorted as if it was no big deal. "Of course I did. I was only a child at the time but he was summoned to the throne room for some small, trivial matter. I think it had something to do with Raditz..."

"Before I forget, there's something I have to tell you about Agalar." Vegeta told them. "And it's not good by the sound of it." He explained to them the trials and what happened to the water if you didn't take them. As he talked about what happened to the water after two hours his father looked stricken.

"I'm coming to you." He grabbed Goku's arm. "Kakarott-"

"Right." He raised his fingers to his forehead but V.J. stopped him before he did the technique.

"Don't you want some magical water to give to people? You know, have them be indebted to your for all eternity?"

His father's eyes lit up in silent pleasure. "Eternal indebtment with no bankruptcy to bail them out..."

"Papa!" Jakina's small voice rang out. "Don't think that way!"

He blinked and his eyes cleared. "Oh, yeah... Right."

"What do you want us to do, Papa?" V.J. asked. "Come back to Chikyuu or go in search of those magical holding containers?"

"There's a one out of a thousand chance they'll find them," Kallen added not so helpfully. "For each year they have been missing."

One could practically hear the final question music in Jeopardy playing as the silence continued on and on and on. Finally, after several long minutes, Vegeta answered.

"Continue on but keep us updated frequently. At least until you go out of transmission range anyway."

"That can happen?"

"Of course it can boy!" He hastily corrected himself at Bulma's glare. "I mean Vegeta. Unless you can find the technology to upgrade the radio, I'd say about three more light-years and then you'll be too far."

"If we need help, what are we supposed to do?" His son asked. "Send you a letter?"

"I recommend you get better technology," he told him. "Or shall I send Kakarott as a messenger?"

"Tousan, can you sense our kis anywhere in the universe?"

Goku thought. "Well, I sensed Brolli's all the way from the southern part of the universe so it's safe to say that when you cross over into eastern part of the universe I'll still be able to find you.

"It depends on where the Knowledge Giver, Grynth, is located Mr. Goku. Your son and Vegeta have a map of the system where Agalar is located but that's only the system. Do they have the coordinates as well?"

"Of course we do!" Vegeta grinned as he told her. "They were easy to obtain."

A line creased Kallen's forehead when she frowned. "That doesn't sound right. If I know my universe correctly, that is the coordinates for the Dynr system. The Dynrians are most famous for their rude and unfunny comedic attempts."

Both Goku and Vegeta's mouths dropped open and the latter began to shout. "KAIO-SAMA!" Goku grabbed his arm and they disappeared for the afterlife. A around twenty minutes later they were back and Vegeta wore the most annoyed expression.

"He is the worst kaio in recorded history!" Vegeta complained. "So because of that we went to see kaioshin."

"What happened?" Gohan asked him.

"He refused to tell us anything." He pushed Gohan out of the chair so he could sit down himself. "That was rude."

"Well, guess you have to visit Grynth after all." Kallen grinned. "And I also guess you'll have to let me come along since I alone know where he lives."

"That was sneaky," Vegeta told her. Then he grinned appreciatively. "I couldn't have done better myself."

"Can I come too?" Taura asked. "I can just follow you in my ship but Jas would have to come with me since he's in the Criminal Work Program."

"You have that on your planet too?" Bulma asked curiously. "What did Jas do?"

His usually happy face grew grave. "It's best that you don't know, Miss Bulma-san."

"You know that's kind of catchy," she mused, trying to break the awkward silence. "Miss Bulma-san."

"You do know that in English Standard you just called my mother Miss Mrs. Bulma, right?" Vegeta asked with amusement.

"I have?" His face took on a very red shade. "Forgive me, Bulma-san."

She smiled. "It's alright."

"Where is Grynth?" Vegeta asked. "Does he live far from here?"

"There's an asteroid that doesn't show up on radar around thirteen light-years southeast from Astra. Grynth has rigged up a cloaking shield around it so that no one can ever hope to locate him."

"But you have." The older Vegeta said with doubt.

She nodded once. "Yes. But I don't want to go into what happened. It's too personal."

"Papa, we'll proceed to upgrade our radio but if we can't don't expect any further contact from us for at least a month. Finding Grynth, finding the containers, locating Agalar, completing the trial.... Honestly, it might take even longer." Bulma's eyes widened as she was about to protest when her mate spoke up.

Vegeta, a frown on his face, made a decision. "As your father and King of Chikyuu, I want you to come back here after you find the magical holding containers. The actual trip to Agalar can wait a while."

"No Papa," Vegeta shook his head. "We can't do that."

"And why not?" his mother demanded to know. "That's a perfectly good decision!"

"Kaasan, Papa wanted us to find this planet for him and everyone knows why." He smiled slightly. "Turning back after we find the containers is pretty useless."

"Besides, King Vegeta," Kallen said grimly. "I think there are more people after them."

"How do you know that?" Goten asked her.

"Why wouldn't they be? The Springs of Agalar are in the universal public access database."

"Is that like an electronic library?" Gohan asked curiously.

She shrugged. "I guess."

"How can we view it on Chikyuu?" He looked so eager that Kallen laughed.

"There are special devices that allow you to access it. They're called UPADs. I'm guessing that you would like one."

"Of course!" He smiled dreamily. "All of the knowledge of the universe at my fingertips..." His younger brother coughed strangely and it sounded suspiciously like "nerd". Nevertheless Gohan heard him.

"You see Goten, thinking that way has people calling you a baka."

"You're in denial, niichan. You're a nerd! Besides, this bastard over here is the only one who says that about me."

Everyone expected Vegeta to yell at him but he only smiled and rolled his eyes. "Baka."

"I am ending this transmission," Vegeta interrupted. "Contact me again when you either have the containers or you have my spring water." He added something at the glares of ChiChi and Bulma. "Or if one of you are dying. Then I will send Kakarott to your rescue."

"No wait!" Gohan pushed his finger away from the 'end' button. "Go buy me a UPAD and I'll send Tousan to pick it up for me. How much does one cost?"

"Three hundred rubians," Kallen told him.

"How much do you guys have left?"

Vegeta remembered that he hadn't gotten a chance to spend anything. "Seventy-five. What about you Goten?"

The larger hybrid blushed. "Um, some change. I have no idea what you call it."

"They're called rubles and you have seventy-five in change."

"I have twenty more dollars, how much would that bring us to?"

"One-hundred fifty-five seventy-five." She smiled at Gohan. "But I will be kind and add the additional one-hundred forty-five rubians to the total."

"You don't have to do that!" Gohan told her.

"It's alright. You can repay me later." Then she frowned. "How are we supposed to give it to you? I meant to ask that before when you when Goku and King Vegeta vanished."

"My tousan!" he said, clearly proud of him. "He has this teleporting technique that can get you anywhere in the universe in a second."

"Oh! That's how he did it!" She looked at Goku in admiration. "That's a wonderful sounding technique."

Goku flushed with pleasure. "Yeah, well..."

"So we'll be back in a few hours with your UPAD, Niichan." Goten smiled and ended the transmission. "Ja!" Then, eager to get a chance to buy something else, Goten and the others headed off to the Floor.

***

"I can't blieve this," Vegeta complained once the screen went blank. "Here I am, *this*," he did another illustration with his fingers, "close to becoming stronger than you, Kakarott, and all of this crap had to happen."

"Look on the bright side, Vegeta," Goku said as he followed the king out of Bulma's laboratory toward the training room, "our sons get to see the universe!"

"Oh joy," he said sarcastically, "Oh rapture." He quickly looked around for nosey ningen. "No one's watching us now?"

"Vegeta, we can make the glass opaque remember?" Goku said with a grin.

He blushed very slightly because he really didn't remember and snapped. "Of course I do Kakarott! I was just testing you."

"You know, Veggie," Goku began as he stretched, "you seem more crabby than usual."

Vegeta was half tempted to snap at him again but he thought better of it. He could hear Jakina now, 'Papa! That wasn't nice!'. "It's this job," he sighed. "I thought it would be fun."

This made the other saiyan raise an eyebrow. "You actually were looking forward to having fun?"

He nodded. "On Vegeta-sei the job just looked so great! You know, ordering everyone around and making people bow and beg at my feet..." He trailed off as his eyes got that dreamy look of rememberance in them again.

"That's the problem," Goku informed him. "You're thinking like a saiyan."

He blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Yeah. See, you and I are the only saiyans on a planet ninety-nine point nine percent inhabited by ningen. They don't do things the same way that you're used to, Vegeta. On Chikyuu countries are primarily run by sweet talking the masses. The ningen call it 'politics'."

He nodded like someone being told the meaning of life. "I see."

"On Vegeta-sei the government was run by fear. You scared people into doing what they did. Here if you did that they would try and impeach you. Besides," he smiled slightly, "that wasn't really right in the first place."

"Impeach me?" Vegeta asked incredulously. "I lead them! How can they impeach their leader?!"

The other's grin grew even wider. "Oh they'll find a way. Believe me."

This gave the king a lot to think about. Maybe he wasn't running things the right way considering the only knowledge he had of ruling came from his 'dear' departed father. He thought for a brief moment about going to the public library to research everything and then remembered a little thing called the internet. 'Why travel outside and be mobbed,' he thought, 'if I can find just about anything I want on the world wide web?' Absentmindedly he wandered right out the room towards the hall and left Goku staring at his back with a bemused expression.

"He was actually listening to something I said? Imagine that..."

Vegeta's spotted Bra's laptop sitting on a end table and took it to the living room. Bulma had made modifications to it and now her computer was able to pick up the internet satellite signals by using an internal antennae. She thought it was right up there with creating Mirai Trunks' time machine. Sure, she didn't do it personally but since it was her older counterpart's project she took partial credit for it as well.

Vegeta opened Internet Explorer and groaned when he instantly got an error message. Nope, Windows has not gotten any better in the future. Cursing both Microsoft and Bill Gates' descendants, he chose Netscape instead and goes straight to amazon.com.

"Hmm," he mumbled while typing in 'politics' in the search engine. Over one-hundred results came back. "Ningen have written a lot on this subject. Unfortunately most of it is about their former leaders." After looking for nearly half and hour he found a few perfect books. One was entitled 'Win Them Over! A Guide to Modern Politics' while another read 'Against All Odds: How to Stay Sane in the Government'. He took out an account and charged it to Bulma's Capsule Corp. credit card.

"Hey Veggie-chan," Bulma said as she sat down next to him. "I have an idea."

Closing his eyes, he leaned back against the couch cushions. "Does it involve public speaking in any way?"

"Er, no."

"Good. I'm all talked out."

She smiled and shook her head slightly. "Vegeta, I have the perfect way for everyone to get to know you."

One eye cracked open to look at her. "Does this involve the embarrassing telling of baby stories?"

"Iie," She laughed. "As if you were going to tell me any. My idea is this: We can have a ball."

Confused, he asked a question. "What do you mean by that? How is a spherical object supposed to help me?"

"Not a ball, ball but a dance, ball!" She got up and began to gracefully glide around the room. "You know with fancy dresses and perfect decorations and wonderful food. It can be held in two weeks and we can have it open invitation so that everyone who can make the trip can come." But Vegeta barely heard her because his mind was stuck on one word.

"Dance? As in make a fool of myself, dance?" He groaned loudly. "This can't be happening."

"Of course you would have to dance silly!" She smiled at him. "Why wouldn't the guest of honor dance at his ball?"

"Why is this a good idea again?"

"During it you can chat with everyone and they'll get to see how great a person you are."

"Can't I do that from a television broadcast?"

"No, those are really impersonal."

He looked at her with a pleading look on his face. "Isn't there something I can do or say to make you change your mind?"

She shook her head. "My mind is completely made up. No, sex won't work this time."

"Damn," he sulked. "I'm going to train with Kakarott. Leave me alone until dinner. Whose turn is to cook tonight?"

"Trunks'."

He smirked. "On second thought, *don't* call me."

"His food isn't that bad!"

"Compared to yours, of course not. No one's is *that* bad."

Not bothering to even pretend that she was angry, she walked off in the direction of her lab. "I'm taking lessons, remember? For that remark you have to be my taste tester for a week."

The saiyan froze in his steps and dashed off after her. "I'm sorry! Please don't make me do that!"

"Nope, begging won't work this time."

"Please!"

Bra and Pan both shook their heads as they passed by them in the hallway. "Remember that test we did last week?" The blue-haired one asked her best-friend.

"The DNA one? Hai."

"Are you sure the results were right?"

Pan grinned. "Bra-chan, we did it three times."

"How about once more?"


	7. Book Two: Quest for Agalar - A Man Called Grynth

They returned to the ship an hour later after finding a cheap store and haggling with its owner. Vegeta, with his dangerous annoyed expression, and Goten, with his Son charm, got the price down to only one-hundred fifty rubians. They didn't need Kallen's money after all.

After the device was safely in Gohan's eager hands and the mechanics at the docks had installed their brand-new radio system and hyperdrive (both courtesy of Kallen), the trio boarded the ship and lifted off.

"Now are you sure your ship is going to be okay in the hold?" Goten asked the woman. She nodded and leaned back into her chair.

"Of course it is. Minimization is not a new technology you know."

"I still don't see how you can shrink something if it isn't inside a capsule," Vegeta told her. "I didn't think it was possible."

"You saw it happen," she retorted. "Believe it."

"I didn't say that I didn't believe! I said that I didn't know how it was done! I don't think you know any more than I do."

"Excuse me," Don said. "But if I may interrupt?"

"Yes, Don," The self-appointed captain said. "What is it?"

"I believe that we are under attack."

Eyes wide, he punched the button for the external camera and saw two dark green ships tailing them when the screen popped up on the viewing window. "How do ya know they're attacking us?"

"Camera three," he said calmly. Vegeta had another window pop-up on the large window and saw two more slightly above their ship shooting brilliant red beams at them.

"What do I do?" he asked him frantically just as the first impact was felt.

"I suggest you have Goten and Kallen man the guns while you radio Taura for backup."

"Good idea!" He grinned as he moved over to the smaller console. "Goten, you and Kallen go do what he says. Make sure you don't waste our weapon energy for nothing. How good is your aim, guys?"

"Absolutely perfect," she said with a grim smile. "I've logged in over one-hundred hours at the shooting range."

Goten blushed. "Um, twenty-four hours playing Super Mario Brothers Duck Hunt."

Vegeta felt a sense of dread. "Just do your best, okay Goten?" 'Kami,' he prayed silently, 'please don't let any enemies come from the right. Please!' he waved them towards the guns just as Taura appeared on the smaller monitor.

"Vegeta what the hell is going on out here?"

"I have no clue," he swiveled the chair back towards the main viewing window to watch where the enemy was coming from so that he could give his gunners a little help. A smaller window popped up in the lower right hand corner and a coldly smiling alien with long green hair appeared.

"We want the ring," he informed him gruffly, "and we will give you five minutes to hand it over before attacking again."

"Why is the ring so special?" he asked with feigned ignorance. "What does it mean to you?"

One black-gloved hand came down hard on the console in front of him. "It means everything! You have no idea how important that map is to our empire!"

"Oh I don't, eh?" He smirked. "I think I have a clue." Hitting another button he opened a radio link to the young people at the weapons. "Guys, you may open fire onto their ships."

"Right!" The strange man's face twisted in rage as he cut the transmission immediately.

Vegeta sat back in the captain's chair and watched the ships move from the screens still up in front of him. He was feeling the same way he always did in the middle of a battle even though he was using something else besides his fists to win. Don's voice disturbed his thoughts.

"You are new to space battle aren't you?" he asked.

"Well, yeah. Of course I am."

"Oh so that's why you aren't trying to avoid their missles. Two will impact in three, two, one..." A large explosion rocketed the ship and threw him forward onto the console.

"What the hell am I supposed to do?!" he screamed in frustration.

"Fasten your restraint for starters. You can make the jump to hyperspace before they release more missiles."

He punched in a hasty combination of buttons, praying to kami that he didn't make a mistake. Studying the users manual in your spare time wasn't as good as learning from his mother personally. He felt a lurch as the engines tripled their output and and he was pressed backwards into his chair.

"What did you do?" Goten asked as he struggled onto the bridge against the forces of their jump.

"I used the hyperdrive. The missiles can't impact if we're going too fast."

"Good idea," he said as he finally was able to take a seat. "Did you tell Taura what was going on?"

"Iie.. shit!" He brought him up on the small monitor and told him the exact point they were going to reenter regular space. The slightly older man processed this quickly and grinned.

"Well, at least we get to finally see what this new drive can do."

"You haven't used it yet?!" he asked in surprise.

"Well, no. We got it installed a few days before you got to Astra. The Day of Commerce only happens once a month so Jas and I wouldn't be back for a little while."

"We will make the jump in fifteen seconds," Don told them. "Thermal weapons are now offline until we reenter normal space."

"But those people just launched heat-seeker missiles that will impact in approximately fourteen seconds!" Kallen said as she checked the radar.

"We're not going to make it!" Goten wailed.

"Keep calm!" Vegeta snapped before he counted down under his breath. "Five, four, three, two..."

"One," Kallen whispered.

They all felt the beginnings of impact for a split-second and then it suddenly vanished as everything around them blurred to black. Vegeta released the breath he didn't know that he was holding and folded his arms behind his head.

"Yeah, I totally pulled that off. No problem."

"No.. problem?" Kallen asked in a stunned voice as she took the seat behind him. "No problem?"

Goten voiced what she wanted to say but could not. "No problem? How was that *not* a problem? We almost died back there! Battles where I can beat someone up with my fists is one thing but battles with spaceships are completely something else!"

He waved his words away with a casual grin. "Relax, Goten. It's all relative."

Blinking in confusion, Goten scratched his head. "Huh? I didn't even understand that."

"Apparently neither does he," Kallen snorted. "I'm going to get some sleep. Wake me up when we're back in normal space." She disappeared down the corridor and Goten continued to frown at the younger man.

"It's all relative? *How* is everything relative exactly?"

"Um," he thought about it for a second, then realized that he didn't really know. "How about some food, man? You must be pretty hungry by now!"

Refusing to be sidetracked by stuffing his face, he turned his chair to face Vegeta. "If you're not going to answer that, how about this: What's up between you and Marron?"

"That's easy! We broke up before we left Chikyuu. I'm a free man now."

His mouth fell open. "What happened? You two seemed so happy together."

"Well, I thought and it became apparent to me that we broke up for the same exact reasons she and niichan did." He leaned forward conspiratorily and Goten was eager to find out. "We weren't compatible."

Slightly disappointed, he turned away. "Sure you weren't."

"Goten, she's like Videl in a way." When he offered an explanation for his earlier words the other hybrid was all ears. "She wants me to pretend to be something I'm not."

"What's that? Nice?"

He snorted. "Iie, baka. She wants me to pretend to be ningen. *Completely* ningen."

"Ah I see," his brow furrowed as he thought. "Niichan let Videl change him though."

"Exactly! I can't handle someone like that and neither could niichan. Our personalities won't let us."

"That and because you're both Vegeta's offspring," he grinned. "If *I* loved her I wouldn't care."

"Look at Goku-san and Gohan," he said almost too inaudible to hear. "They act more like ningen every day. Your tousan and niichan are forgetting their heritage!"

Goten growled slightly and glared at Vegeta. "Don't say things like that about my family. We aren't completely saiyan anyway."

"You and Gohan aren't," he told him. "What's Goku-san's excuse?"

That said, he and Goten refused to speak to each other for the rest of the ride.

***

On the reentry to normal space, Kallen joined them on the bridge before anyone had to go get her. Vegeta and Goten still refused to even look at each other.

"What happened in here?" she asked curiously as she took her seat behind Vegeta. "I sense hostility."

"If you do then it's coming directly from that bastard over there," Goten said in a voice full of anger. Vegeta pretended that he didn't hear him and proceeded to bring up Taura on the large screen.

"You there, Taura?" he asked.

"We've *been* here," was the response. "I guess our drive is faster than yours. You haven't noticed?"

"Don, put Taura on the viewing window. Use the rest of the screen for cameras one through three."

"Done, Vegeta. Are you and Goten going to make up soon?"

Instead of answering his question, he turned to Kallen. "How did you know that we were reentering normal space?"

She smiled. "It's from years of traveling on spaceships. While I was sleeping, my body felt the decrease in forces and therefore I woke up. Simple really."

"I see... Why did you ask us to wake you then?"

Grinning, she said, "Just in case my body decided to sleep-in this time. Are we on our way to Grynth's now?"

"All I need is the coordinates."

"Can't give you that," she said as she stepped over to the console. "Besides, I only know a general area." She typed in something on the console and her next words were for Don's 'ears' only. "Look for a Class C formation."

"I understand, Kallen. ETA is approximately four hours."

As the silence stretched on, Goten was hard-pressed for something to do to occupy his time. He couldn't eat because they really needed to save food, he didn't want to train alone, so he decided to half apologize to Vegeta.

"I apologize for being so short with you," he told Vegeta without looking at him. "Can we talk to each other again? I'm getting bored."

"What about me?" Kallen asked with amusement. "I'm back here too, ya know!" He smiled apologetically and waited for Vegeta to say something.

"Goten, I had no right to say that your niichan and your tousan were acting too ningen. Actually, Goku-san is happily situated between the two. Gohan, sad to say, as lost it completely."

"Yeah, he is a nerd. I wonder how he likes his new toy." Goten walked over to the monitor and dialed up Bulma's lab. "Hey everybody! How's it goin'?"

"Goten are you homesick or something?" Bulma shouted from across the room where she was installing *something* into what looked to be yet another spaceship. "You call really often."

"Where's niichan? I would think mister scientist would be helping you."

"The strangest thing happened," She stopped momentarily to wipe the sweat from her face. "He stopping working *way* before he usually does."

"Why is that? Was their some other important scientific discovery and he ran to check it out?"

She turned and grinned at him. "He and Videl just up and decided that they were going to take the kids to the park. So they conviced Mia to join them and now Bra, Pan, Jakina, Magori, Moura are having fun on the playground."

The two demi-saiyans were beyond speechless. "What happened to him? That's not the niichan I know!"

She momentarily disappeared out of view but her voice was still heard. "He just realized he hasn't been spending a lot of time with his daughters. I mean, even Vegeta spars with Bra and Trunks at least once a week!"

"So who compared him with Papa?" Vegeta asked.

"ChiChi."

He grinned. "Of course."

"So does he like his gift?"

"Very much. He's in love with the thing constantly calling everyone in the palace to check out what he was reading. He seems particulary interested in Naoni and Son-kun does as well."

"What is-"

"Naoni is a theory that we have in outerspace," Kallen said quietly. "It has never been proven as of yet but everyone is working on it. The theory states: It is possible for every single living organism in the universe to coexist peacefully with each other."

"Yeah," Goten smiled faintly. "He and tousan would love to see that."

"But Goten, with people like Frieza floating around I don't ever see it happening. Look at how many people everyone had to fight over the years! This is one of the few times things have been even slightly peaceful."

"Is peace truly possible?" Kallen asked aloud. "Or is it merely a dream that we mortals use to comfort ourselves?"

"Why sound so cynical?" Bulma asked with concern. "Someday we all may learn that killing each other over silly reasons isn't the answer."

"I'm sorry Bulma-san, but I've seen far too much to believe it." She shook her head. "Eighteen years growing up on a planet that's reknown for its decietfulness and fifteen years in the Imperial Army."

Goten was curious. "How old are you anyway?"

"Son Goten!" Bulma snapped almost exactly like his own mother. "You never ask a lady her age!"

"It's alright, Bulma-san. I don't consider myself a lady. Not anymore." She turned slightly to Goten. "I'm thirty-three years old."

Vegeta, although he was good at hiding his emotions, felt incredibly sad for his new friend. Kallen seemed like a nice person but something horrible had happened in her past. Somehow he could sense it. All of them in their silence at Kallen's words had completely forgotten Bulma.

"Are you finished with me?" She asked while waving a cordless drill around. She narrowly missed smacking Vegeta who had walked up behind her.

"Onna, watch it!" he said with mock anger. She jumped and it fell from her hand. In a move that was too fast for either Bulma or Kallen to see, her mate caught it before he landed on her toe and he laughed. "You and your power tools."

"If you're quite finished irritating me," she growled, "leave me alone. I need to get back to work." Vegeta picked her up and threw her over his shoulder like she was a sack of flour. "How many times I have to tell you that I'm *not* food! Kami!"

"Now I know we're done with you, Kaasan," Vegeta said while shaking his head. "Talk to you later. Ja." After cutting the connection, he asked Don a question. "How much longer now?"

"Three hours, forty-five minutes."

"Kami, I can't take much more of this maddening boredom!" Goten complained. Kallen had departed once again for her bed. Vegeta and Goten had to share now.

"You wanna spar?" Vegeta asked him hopefully.

"Sure!"

***

Three hours, thirty minutes later they were entering an vast asteroid belt about a small solar system. Fifteen minutes after that Vegeta, with help from Don, made a landing onto the craggy rock face. After firmly securing the ship and retrieving three spacesuits from the hold, they carefully made their way to the only building on the surface after waiting for Taura to join them. The weighted boots were hard to walk in but they prevented them all from floating away in zero gravity.

Once the door was firmly closed and the dead air was filtered back outside, they were all allowed out of the air lock and into the main part of the building.

"Welcome back, Kallen. I see you and your friends require information." Grynth held up a tray. "Tea? Coffee? Cookie?"

Neither Goten nor Vegeta knew what to expect but the man in front of them was definitely not it. He didn't look overly knowledgeable about *anything* besides how to be a good host. He was an older looking man with a balding head and tiny spectacles perched upon his nose. He waved them towards the sitting room with a smile and set the tray onto the coffee table.

"I apologize that this isn't a social visit," Kallen said sincerly. "But my friends require information on Agalar for their king. Taura's just tagging along for the ride."

"Ah Agalar," he settled into a comfortable tan arm chair as Goten helped himself to both tea and a handful of cookies. "The Planet of Many Names. Some called it the cursed planet while still others consider it heaven. Would you like to know the facts and decide for yourselves?"

"Yes please," Vegeta said politely. Normally he wouldn't be but Grynth was so kind it seemed pointless to be rude. "I would like to form my own opinion."

His eyes turning distant, he told them the truth about Agalar. "The planet was once populated by a race of people that were curious about perfection. They loved to talk about it, they desired to have it. It is safe to say that they were obsessed with it. After discovering that nothing they could do would cause a baby to be born perfect, they developed special springs by weaving powerful spells that allowed the drinker ability beyond belief. Knowledge, Power, Immortality, Wisdom, Creativity, Luck, and Love; these are the things the Perfection Seekers craved so these are the Springs that were created. Decades it took them, some wizards dying as they gave too much only to have younger, more powerful wizards take their place. But the Springs have never been used. The Perfection Seekers died before they could partake of them."

"What happened to them?" Goten asked in a hushed voice, unwilling to break the mood Grynth had created. He had stopped drinking his tea half-way through his words.

"No one knows; not even I." His green eyes settled on Kallen. "That may forever remain a mystery."


	8. Book Two: Quest for Agalar - To Agalar Or Not To Agalar. That is the Question

"I don't think we should go to someplace like that!" Goten said once they were once again on the ship. "It sounds bad."

"That's only the beginning of it," Taura said so softly they could barely hear him. Even Kallen looked interested at his words.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Jas is involved with this story. It's part of the reason why he was convicted of mass murder." Goten's eyes grew wide. "In space there are things called spacial rifts above certain planets. Through these rifts come restless, oftentimes evil, spirits onto the planet to feast on the souls of the living. It was Jas' job to send these spirts back to the afterlife. He was a Death Chaser."

"I've never heard of this," Kallen said with a frown. "Why is that?"

"The Death Chasers preferred not to be known by society. They were a secret organization. All the people of the planets knew was that sometimes people went out after dark and never came back.

"On our home planet, Tale, there is a great rift above the Kriftin Sea. Around the middle of last year Jas and a team of twelve other Death Chasers were called to it because the spirts were coming through. They did it at irregular intervals, you know. We had no way of knowing when they were going to come out again."

"Why was he in prison if he did that for everyone?" Goten asked. "I don't understand."

Taura sighed heavily and closed his eyes. "He was always my friend, ever since we were children. We played together, we went to school together, we even confided in each other. During his battle at the Rift, a Spirit got to him and permanently damaged his soul. If you have no soul, your body is nothing but an empty vessel. Jas hasn't been the same since.

"His parents tried to care for him but something had awakened deep inside of him causing my friend to hunger for the blood of the kill. Three months ago he began to prey on innocent people, mercilessly butchering them until the bodies were nearly unidentifiable. A few weeks after that he was apprehended by the police." He placed his helmet once again on his head and took his time securing everything. His already low voice was muffled considerably and they had a hard time hearing him. "I know that it is the Spirits fault for ruining my friend and I come with you to find a cure. I can't allow him to remain this way. I just can't!"

"I understand," Kallen said quietly. "We all have our own personal reasons for this journey."

"The reason I have told you all of this," he called as the door seperating the main part of the ship and the air lock lowered shut, "is because Agalar has a spacial rift. You may need our help."

Vegeta, thinking hard about what he said, manually had the oxygen enriched air forced back inside the ship before opening the other door. Once finished, he strode down to the bridge and saw Taura safely make it back to his own ship.

"We should continue on," he said once he had sat down once again in his chair. "Not for us but for Taura. Maybe there is something out there that can help him."

"He should have asked Grynth about it!" Kallen said. "He would have helped."

"That's his business." he told her. "Not ours. If he didn't want to ask, he didn't want to ask. So," he changed the subject, "shall I program in the coordinates or do we go on back home?"

"Of course we're going forward!" Kallen said firmly. "There is just no other choice."

As Vegeta programmed the coordinates into the computer, he questioned Don on just how long the trip would take.

"ETA is three days. That is if you use the hyperdrive. ETA without is twice as long."

"Three days?" Goten moaned. "What am I supposed to do?"

"I was noticing before your combat skills," Kallen said casually. "Can you, or both of you, train me to become better? You can never have enough training."

"No problem!" Vegeta said cheerfully. "Don, is there a station or a planet somewhere between here and Agalar? We're runnin' low on supplies." He glanced at Goten. "The Bottomless Son Pit hasn't been active that much but still..."

"There are around fifty. Some are in," he paused briefly as if carefully choosing his next words, "enemy territory."

This raised eyebrows in all three of them. "Enemy as in the man who wanted the ring?" he asked.

"Yes. They are the Syth; professional thieves. That was their leader himself, Ankan. He does not come from their main hide-out for silly reasons."

"You seem to know much," Kallen said softly. "How did you find this out?"

Don paused again, but this time it was embarrassed. As embarrassed as he ever got anyway. "I, um, breached their security firewalls and 'borrowed' a bit of information."

"In plain terms you hacked into the system and stole the info." Vegeta nodded. "Gotcha."

" 'Hacked' is such an ugly word," the A.I. said, his embarrassment growing deeper. "I thought that we would need this later on. I was right."

"But Donovan," Kallen said in her best mothering tone, "it was still not a nice thing to do. The next time you see that computer, you should apologize."

Don's voice lowered in mock shame and Vegeta and Goten hid their snickers. "Yes, mother."

"Good boy." She stood and stretched. "Well, I'm ready for training guys. Don't go easy on me because I'm not a saiyan."

Vegeta and Goten both jumped to their feet, eager to do something other than eat, sleep, and sit. Before V.J. had exited the bridge, he asked Don to do something else for him.

"When we reach a place that's not under Ankan's control, can you began the docking procedure and contact us in the training room?

"Will do, Vegeta. Have fun."

He grinned. "I will."

***

"What's the damn difference?" Vegeta asked Bulma irritably early the next day. She continued to hold up two different color swatches.

"One is Rose and the other is Blush."

"They're both pink! I hate pink!"

She smirked at him. "You liked that pink Bad Man shirt I gave you."

"Did you see me with any other clothes to wear? For future reference, yellow *does not* match pink." He flipped through the color swatchs quickly looking for a suitable shade for a ball that he really didn't want to go to. Stopping on one page that was covered completely in various shades of blue, he randomly picked one.

"Robin's Egg?" she said. "You like pale blues?"

"Um," he looked for a way to end that discussion quickly, "of course I do. Robin's Egg and white. Those are the colors. Now have ChiChi, Mia, or some other female help you with the rest."

Gathering up her things, she snorted. "I'll ask ChiChi but getting Mia to do this is like getting Son-kun to use table manners. It's not possible. Besides, she's not here. There's an art show at school and she went up there with Pan, Jakina, and Magori to help. Bra's doing her homework and Trunks is finally doing his job."

"What did you bribe him with?" Vegeta asked with amusement.

"Front row concert tickets. They cost me two-hundred eighty-eight thousand yen."

"The boy has good sight. He could have sat in the back row."

"He also wouldn't be at Capsule Corp. today doing paperwork either. I think he misses Goten. You know they've never been apart for any length of time before. You had to threaten Goten with bodily harm to get him to go home when he was a child." Before she exited the living room, she smiled at her mate. Vegeta knew instantly that he wasn't going to like what she was going to say next. "You and I are supposed to go to the art show in thirty minutes. Make sure you're ready."

"But all those people!" he groaned and made his way over to her. Ningen were mobsters. He frantically tried to think up an excuse as to why he couldn't come. "Who will guard the palace while we're not here?"

"Son-kun," she answered promptly. "He doesn't have any children that young, remember? *You*," she poked him in the chest, "do."

"But he has an granddaughter that age..." Then he sighed. "I'm not getting out of this, am I?" He didn't want to disappoint his youngest but he really didn't want to have to deal with all those people...

"Of course not. Be ready and no spandex. We're going as Jackie-chan's parents, not the impressive leaders of humanity."

"Sure, onna. Whatever you say."

"My name is-!"

"Bulma," he finished. "I know, I know."

***

Walking around the gymnasium glancing at children's scribbles was not want he wanted to be doing with his day. The kindergarten through third graders were the worst of all although some showed future promise. Their proud parents oohed and awed over their art work even as they tried to figure out what it was supposed to be exactly. He stopped at the fourth grade class and quickly sought out Jakina.

"Papa! Papa!" she jumped up and down in excitement. "Come see my work!"

Moving to stand beside her and inwardly cringing at what he would say when she asked him what he thought, he looked at her picture and instantly noticed that it was great. She had drawn a waterfall with fairies playing in the pool at the bottom. It was beyond great in his opinion, it was perfect. His little Jackie-chan had real talent.

"How long did this take you?" he asked while wondering how come he didn't notice she could draw before.

"A week. I wanted it to be perfect. Do you like it?"

Bending down to her level and showing rare affection in public, he hugged her. "I think it's wonderful."

"The juding for each class is later. Do you think I'll win?"

He smiled at her as best that he could. "Of course you will. If you don't, they'll have an angry king to deal with."

"Papa!"

He sighed. "I know, I know. That's not right." As he stood he heard Pan's loud voice yelling at him. Her class was next to Jakina's.

"Vegeta-ojisan! Come see mine now!"

Jakina giggled and shoed him away. "You better go. Pan-chan's not very patient. Her sculpture is good too. Are you going to see Magori's picture?"

"Of course I am. He's part of the," he supressed a flinch at using the word, "family now too, isn't he?"

"You're getting better Papa." She said seriously as she looked up at him. "Keep up the good work. I'll tell Mama that you said something nice about my picture. She'll be happy too."

Vegeta wondered what they talked about when he wasn't around. Did she tell Bulma that he was nicer to everyone? Surely everyone could see that he was. But just the thought of them discussing his behavior when he wasn't around irked him.

"What did Pan sculpt?" he asked his daughter. He didn't want to make her cry by not knowing what it was. Pan had an astonishing set of lungs.

Her eyes sparkled as she fought to keep a smile from her face. "You'll see."

Vegeta walked away partially dreading what was to come. What did Jakina mean by 'You'll see?'. He entered the second row of fifth-grade projects and spotted Pan arguing with a blond boy.

"Don't insult my sculpture! It took me forever!"

The boy stuck out his tongue at her and pointed to his own project. "At least my family is worth sculpting." He stopped their argument just as Pan had her hands clenched in the little boy's clothing and was raising him a few inches from the floor.

"Your mother would kill you, brat." he said quietly. It was all she needed to hear. Pan had gotten in trouble for fighting more times than he could remember. Videl would lecture first and then wonder if she was just a bad parent. Gohan said that was exactly what his own mother would do. Hell, she *still* did it. The small girl released him but not before pushing him roughly away.

"I hate that boy," she muttered. "As if my ojiichan is a bad person."

That made the king blink and turn toward her project. It was what he had been expecting, there was a perfect replica of Goku's head on a pedestal. She had painted it realistically and even had a small, golden plaque in front of it. Pan really did love her grandfather.

"So, Veggie-ojisan," she asked with a grin. "is this absolutely magnificent or what?"

He remained silent until he found the perfect words to say. "It's great. For Kakarott's head anyway."

He grin grew even wider. "I knew you would say that. Judging's in five minutes. Go see Magori's now."

"Are you going to stay out of trouble?" he questioned her.

With a scowl, she replied, "Kaasan and Tousan's headin' over here soon and so is Mia-obasan."

"Mia would let you kill that boy and think nothing of it."

Pan nodded. "That's why I love her."

Walking down the center of the gym proved harder than he thought. With all those small children and doting parents running around, you couldn't scratch your nose without elbowing someone. Before he was once again near the second-graders, he heard a voice that instantly made his anger rise and a vaguely red haze cloud his vision.

"So Vegeta-oui is taking time out of his all-too-busy schedule to attend elementary school functions, eh?"

Without turning, he knew who the words belonged to; the Lord of Shadows.

Like all leaders Vegeta had a bit of opposition. Actually, bit was a major understatement. This dark-haired, blue-eyed ladies man had gathered people together who despised him from all corners of the world and formed a group known as the Shadow Stalkers in polite conversation. Their mission was simple: dethrone the evil doer and put someone of their own choosing in his place. The way they came about this was to chase every single rumor and hunt down every single dark moment in his life.

Why they hated him varied among everyone at the palace. ChiChi said it's because of who he was. That was half of the reason. He had, of course, originally come to Chikyuu intending on killing as many ningen as he could. The other half is because of where he had come from. A place outside of Chikyuu.

Space travel was a foreign concept to these people. They could not begin to fathom the things that existed out in space. He is different therefore he is wrong. That was the Shadow Stalkers' way of thinking.

Vegeta's very being had been created by hatred. It had been raised by battle and comforted by blood. The darkness was a part of who he was and nothing anyone could do or say would ever change that. The people of Chikyuu were lucky, they had but a glimpse into Vegeta's dark world. Very few had experienced everything and the ones who had survived it were forever altered.

The newly crowned King of Chikyuu turned slowly to face his enemy. He did not incinerate him with ki on the spot as he would have done merely months ago nor did he curse at him with annoyance. A calm, slightly amused smile slid over his face and inwardly he laughed. Vegeta found humor in the entire confrontation. He, the second strongest warrior in the entire universe, faced a lowly ningen and was not compelled to kill him instantly. The Lord of Shadows was completely unaware of just how fortunate he was and that he owed his life to a small, nine-year-old girl by the name of Jakina Briefs. So, he laughed silently and found words to say to the treasonous lord before him.

"My daughter had a drawing that she wanted me to see," he said simply. "I came."

His blue eyes became small shards of ice and his mouth turned up in derision. He remembered that attack oh so long ago when Son Gohan was but a child, when he sought to become immortal. "I would think small things like family didn't concern... you." Around them all had grown silent as if they were waiting for Vegeta to execute the final blow. For once, Vegeta did not wish to kill. He felt it was better if the Lord of Shadows stayed alive for now even though he wouldn't understand the humor of it.

"That merely proves how little you know about me." He drew himself up and fixed that still faintly amused, dark stare onto the blue crystal that was the Lord's. "While you are here speaking with me, where is your family? Are you abandoning them at this very moment to exchange thinly disguised insults? Or are they that unimportant to you?"

As he left the other man fuming wordlessly, his small smile became a self-satisfied smirk. Those books on politics really knew their stuff. Score: Vegeta-oui one, Lord of Shadows zero.


	9. Book Two: Quest for Agalar - Battles Among Friends

Her trainers were merciless and for that she was grateful. She did not desire an easy spar but once that would work her endlessly and keep her mind from other things. So far it was working.

The two demi-saiyans were truly magnificent in her opinion. The way their muscles moved just beneath the surface of their tanned skin, the way their reflexes were precise like the notes of a finely tuned instrument, the way their senses were honed like a feline's...

Kallen's breath was knocked from her then, before she had time to clear her mind and enter the realm of concentration where she often dwelt. Goten paused with concern but the prince continued on as if nothing was wrong.

"Wait a minute, V.J.," he placed a hand on his arm. "I think we should wait a moment."

"On the battlefield, the enemy will not wait for a warrior to recover," he intoned emotionlessly.

"We are not on the battlefield."

"It's alright," she told him with a smile that didn't quite reach her silver eyes. "I understand his logic. He's absolutely correct."

The older hybrid frowned. "Just because he's correct doesn't make it any less wrong."

"You're thinking like your father," Vegeta snorted.

"And you're thinking like a bastard."

"Come on guys!" she halted them right there before the old argument surfaced once more. Honestly, she didn't see how they could stand to be around each other at all. Both contradicted each other completely. Goten, being a creature of light and goodwill, and Vegeta, being a creature of darkness and trickery. But she had both seen and spoken to their fathers and the two older, full-saiyans had a strong bond that puzzled her beyond belief.

Kallen had not completely told Goten and Vegeta the truth before about who she was and how she knew of Agalar. She was an officer of the Imperial Army, sure, but she was also a member of the Sorcerer's Ruling Council. She was not a very strong mage but she could sense enough to know that Vegeta had shadows monitoring his every move. Even his second child had them. She knew not exactly of what sort they were but they were a thick darkness, like tar, and that usually meant they had evil intent.

She blinked rapidly, trying to clear the thoughts from her mind, as Goten shook her gently. His face was so kind, just like his father's, that it almost made her confess her secret. Unfortunately her soul was not drawn to the light -- it craved the darkness.

A war began inside of Vegeta, many different emotions surfacing onto his features until he finally settled on curiosity. Sitting on the metal bench against one wall, he patted the empty place next to him as if inviting Kallen to sit and unburden herself. Sighing, she prepared herself to do just that. The truth would set her free.

"I am descended directly from Chaos," she began instantly confusing the hell out of both of them. "In the beginning of the universe that's all there was. Because I am of his blood, I am fully capable of ruining what the gods have so carefully crafted. There would be Chaos once again."

She took a deep breath. "If Chaos were to once again take over the thread of order would unravel until everything was once again a part of the swirling confusion. Everything would cease to be until the gods put it right once again. Nothing would be the same.

"My mother is decended directly from Order," she smiled bitterly. "Ironic isn't it? What I unravel I can weave once more. Other than that I have little power and I am completely mortal just like the two of you. But if I die childless then I have no idea what would happen. My existence is keeping the balance.

"My reasons for coming with you are simple," she bowed her head, "I must find away to rid myself of mortality so that I will not be responsible for destroying our universe. The creator gods have left our dimension and I don't believe there is a way to call them back."

Glances passed between the two demi-saiyans quickly and she sensed that there was some hidden level of communication going on. "That's a lot to absorb," Vegeta said finally. "As you've said before, we all have our reasons." His face turned sour. "Some just sound better than others."

She understood what that was all about. Goten had spoken to her about why their king wanted them to go. His reasons were purely selfish and the young man had said that was typical of Vegeta. She felt as if the shadows were strengthening at the mere thought.

Climbing to her feet, she resolved to contact her commander. He had a right to know where she was even though currently she was on leave. This trip might take a while.

***

"Press conference," Vegeta said later that day right before the judging. Bulma raised an eyebrow and placed a hand against his forehead.

"You don't seem feverish," she smiled. "I thought you hated those things."

"I do," he said, "but those damn Shadow Stalkers are getting on my nerves. I want to set the world straight."

After his minor confrontation with the Lord Shadows he felt happy. Sort of. It felt good to put that man in his place but now he had work to do before he and his group retaliated.

Three minutes before the art show judging, Goku and ChiChi walked into the gym. Now that he was there, who was guarding his house? He didn't trust those robots to do anything correctly.

_"Kakarott..."_

Goku's head jerked up and he visually searched for his king. His mental voice was amused when he spotted him. _"The house is fine, Veggie. Trunks is there."_

_"Good. You were lucky this time, Kakarott. I would be so kind again."_

_"You're putting on your 'Hardened Killer' mask. Who angered you today?"_

_"That baka Lord of Shadows."_

_"Ah, I see. Did you kill him?"_

He snorted. _"In front of whitnesses? Iie, I just creatively insulted him. He's going to spread *something* around by tomorrow so I'm having a press conference. You need to be there."_

_"Are you going to let me talk this time? I just stand in the background and look intimidating."_

_"You? Intimidating?"_ His laughter filled both of their heads. _"Are you serious?"_

Goku's laughter joined him. _"I guess not. But still, Veggie, what am I supposed to do with my free time? We have no major conflicts like alien invasions so all I do is hand you paperwork and remind you to eat dinner once in a while. Oh, I also baby-sit the kids. Personal Assistant is *definitely* not my job description not that I mind doing this but..."_

 _"I understand, Goku."_ The other saiyan started at the use of his preferred name. _"I understand completely. Your warrior's soul is rebelling. You crave some sort of major conflict. The only thing I can tell you is to teleport to Vegeta and Goten. They're bound to get into a battle."_

 _"That's a great idea!"_ he grinned. _"I'll leave right after Panny-chan wins."_

_"You're so sure she's going to."_

_"Of course! Well... sort of. If this was a grade school tournament I know she'll win."_

_"That's another thing, your grandchild is out of control. If you don't stop her, she'll end up beating the crap out of every kid in her class."_

_"Pan and her temper are not easy to deal with,"_ Goku sighed. _"You sound worried about her. Are you worried Veggie-chan?"_ he added this in a slightly teasing tone.

 _"Me?"_ Knowning that the other man would probably discover the truth eventually, he saved him the trouble of searching. _"Hai. I guess I've grown attached to her. She is what I wish Bra to be. A lover of battles."_

A warm smile spread across Goku's face. _"I love Bra too and the rest just like my own children. Especially Jakina, she's just too kawaii for her own good. I'll speak to Pan but it'll probably be her mother who stops her completely."_

The mental conversation was halted by the announcement that the judging was about to begin. Vegeta took his place next to Jakina and her perfect picture while Goku and ChiChi searched for Pan and her life-like sculpture. The three judges moved among each class, awarding first and second prizes through each one. By the time they had reached the sixth-grade class Pan was teasing the blond boy by waving her blue ribbon in his face to the horror of her parents and Jakina was jumping up and down while waving her prize as if she had consumed an unhealthy amount of sugar. Vegeta had to pick her up to keep her still.

"Why do children have so much energy?" he questioned Bulma in a whisper.

She shrugged. "I have no idea. But it makes you wish that they didn't."

Slowly the kids began to gather up their things, the ones who won smiling and the ones who didn't being comforted by others. Pan had stopped waving her ribbon but was now skipping around the boy and chanting.

"I'm better than you are! I'm better than you are!"

"Son Pan," Gohan said in a stern voice, his dark eyes narrowing behind his glasses. She froze instantly in mid-skip and lost her balance, falling to the ground. Jumping quickly to her feet, she looked at her father with her best Son smile.

"Yes, Daddy?"

"You're in trouble now," Bra muttered to her on her way past. Pan's eyes widened and she looked for a way out. Nervous eyes settled on Goku and her lower-lip began to tremble with false tears.

"Goku-ojiichan," she sniffed as she ran over to hug him around the legs, "Papa's being mean to me. *You're* not mean to me."

Goku could never stand to see her cry even though he knew she did it for either sympathy or attention. But this time, with great willpower, he gently pried away Pan's hands. "I'm sorry Pan, but you really deserve to be punished for this." He received astonished looks from both of her parents as well as ChiChi.

"I didn't think you had it in you, Tousan," Gohan remarked as he took Pan's hand. She lowered her eyes to the floor in shame and held her sculpture tightly with one arm.

"First I have to take this to the display case on the main floor. It won a ribbon so the principal wants to show it off."

"Of course Pan," he told her. "You know, I'm proud that you won but being a bad winner isn't good."

WIth tearful eyes and a desperate voice, she turned to her father. "You didn't hear what he said about you guys! He was insulting my family. I just couldn't let him do it."

"Gohan, at least she didn't injure the boy." Videl said to him. "Your genes do run wild in Pan-chan."

"*My* genes?" he repeated. "What about yours? You've beat up a lot of people in the past."

"Not as many as you have. At least I haven't killed someone before."

"You know I had no choice Videl!" Gohan exclaimed. "Besides, you make it seem like it was millions like Vegeta. It was only like five."

"Try twelve," Goku not-so-helpfully added. He blinked when everyone his way. "Nani?"

Pan gently removed her hand and her father didn't notice. Taking Goku's she led him out into the hallway. "They're going to be arguing for a while. It's always about who's fighting genes I've inherited."

"I would say Gohan's," ChiChi frowned as she took the baby from Videl. "Look at your ojiichan he likes fighting more than he likes to eat."

The little girl's mouth dropped open. "Really?"

"Really." ChiChi smiled.

"Um, ChiChi?" Goku began nervously. "I have to tell you something. See, I need to go see Goten and Vegeta."

"What happened to them?" she asked quickly. "Is my baby in trouble?"

He shook his head. "Oh no. It's just that I'm getting a little restless on this planet and I need to fight something or I'm going to go crazy."

"You spar with Vegeta every single day Goku," she frowned.

During their talk Pan had disappeared. She didn't want to get in the middle of it. Besides, her obaasan's screaming attracted a lot of attention.

"Vegeta has too much on his mind to be a good opponent. You see what he has to deal with everyday, don't you? Me and whoever's nearby drop loads of paperwork onto his desk and he gets buried behind it, short as he is. Instead of blocking my attacks, he's mumbling to himself about the economy."

"That's a lot of words coming from you," his wife remarked. "But you're right. Vegeta does all the hard work while Bulma does what she likes to do in her lab. Gohan-chan is fully capable of taking over so she can help her husband with the laws. I don't trust that man to do anything right anyway. When are you going to leave Goku?"

He grinned and waved. "Right now."

"Oh no you don't!" ChiChi attempted to grab him but he vanished just before her hand touched his arm. "Kami, I hate when he does that."

***

"AH!" Kallen shrieked as Goku appeared right in front of her. "Goku! You scared me."

"Hiya Kallen," he looked around. "Where are the other two? They can't be far since I teleported to the bridge."

"What are you doing here?" she asked curiously. "Did you get into some kind of trouble on Chikyuu?"

With wide eyes, he laughed. "Of course not. Well, other than the usual. I came here because things were getting a little boring with Vegeta unavailable to spar. All I was doing was baby-sitting jobs."

"What if an alien attacks the planet and you're with us?"

"Then I'll teleport back. I really don't think there's a limit on how far away I can be." He sat down in the seat that Vegeta usually occupied and grinned. "Where are we off to now?"

"The closest place for supplies that isn't controlled by Ankan," Don replied. "That narrows it down from near fifty places to about five." A brief moment passed and he corrected himself. "Make that four. Ankan's just conquered another."

"Great," Kallen frowned. "How many of these are planets?"

"All of them. The space stations and cities fell easily."

"How close is the nearest?"

"Two-point-three light-years. Shall I head for that planet then? I don't want to get into any more trouble..." He trailed off but both could hear the faint amusement in his tone.

"Go ahead Don. You're the A.I. here."

Goku was confused by his last statement. "What's he talking about?"

Motioning for him to follow, Kallen exited the bridge. "It's a long story. You see it all started when Ankan himself attacked us..."


	10. Book Two: Quest for Agalar - Addressing the Masses

If Goku thought travelling with Vegeta and Company was going to be fun he was sadly mistaken. In fact, he was doing some of the same sort of things he had been doing back on Chikyuu: eating, sleeping, and sparring. Therefore he was glad when Vegeta's call came through.

"Kakarott, didn't I tell you I wanted a press conference?" Vegeta asked, irritated.

An embarrassed smile came over his face. "Oops."

" 'Oops' is right. The good thing is that you have an half an hour to get your ass back to this planet and prepare for the camera." He disconnected the call without saying goodbye.

"Are you seriously thinking about letting him control you like that Tousan?" Goten asked with a frown while glancing at the king's namesake. "He's just like-"

Vegeta's raised hand cut him off. "Don't go there."

Goku shrugged. "Vegeta's got opposition. Of course he's grumpy right now."

"When *isn't* he grumpy?" Goten asked. Goku could think of a lot of times when he wasn't but he didn't think Vegeta would like him telling everyone about them. "I have to go and dress in my 'royal commander clothing'." He made a face when he said that.

"I know what you mean, Goku-san. Papa has bad taste in regal clothing."

"Be seeing ya!" He said as he teleported for the second time in less than two days.

"Don," Goten asked. "How long until we get to the planet?"

"ETA is forty-eight point five hours."

"I wonder if Tousan will remember to bring a board game or something."

***

"Um ChiChi, where are my clothes?" Goku asked while searching through the closet. He had heard his wife enter the room and he also scared her because she wasn't expected him to be back. After calming herself down and replacing the weapons that had appeared in her hands back into their hidden space, she answered him.

"In the closet, Goku-sa. Where else would they be?"

"My *gis* are in the closet. I'm looking for that really ugly outfit Vegeta picked out."

"Oh!" Then her eyes widened. "It's still at the dry cleaners. You spilled gravy on it at the last banquet, remember?"

"Oh damn," he cursed. "Vegeta's gonna really kill me this time. The press conference is in," he checked the clock on the nightstand, "twenty-five minutes and I don't have my 'royal outfit'."

"No problem," she said. "Just wear what you usually wear."

"ChiChi, dear," Goku said with a patient tone as if speaking to a retarded person, "people are already trying to kick Vegeta off the throne. It wouldn't a good idea to show up that way. We want people to know we mean business." As he spoke to her he decided to just go to the dry cleaners to get his clothes. Maybe he could back in time. "What cleaners did you take it to?"

"The one downtown, next to the deli. Satan City Cleaners."

"I'll be back soon," he kissed her quickly on the cheek. "Run downstairs and tell Vegeta to not freak out if I'm a little bit late." After she nodded, he ran to the balcony, took off into the sky. It was an emergency, some people would just have to stare.

The line was long at the dry cleaner place since it was the middle of the afternoon. When Goku saw it he went immediately to the front counter and cut in front of an old woman in pink.

"Gomen nasai, ma'am," he apologized when she glared at him, "but this is important!"

"Can I help you?" the man behind the counter asked almost rudely.

"Uh yeah. My wife dropped off something a few days ago and I really needed in today. In fact I need it within twenty minutes."

"Sir," he said, "do you always make it a habit to wait until the last second?"

"I didn't know she brought it here! Anyway, her name's Son ChiChi."

Nodding the man pushed the button on the rack after checking the book and slowly his clothes made their appearance. The man grabbed the plastic coated garment and handed across the counter to the anxious Goku.

"Did you pick this out?" He asked, his nose wrinkled in distaste.

"Iie, but I feel the same way about it. Er, Vegeta-oui did."

"*The* Vegeta-oui?" he asked with wide eyes.

"Of course it was *the* Vegeta-oui. I'm his commander, Goku." He shook his hand with a grin. "So nice to meet you. Now I have to go and get ready for the press conference of Vegeta will *not* be pleased." He turned around the go and was instantly mobbed by all the people waiting. 'Now I know what Vegeta means by 'rabid ningen'.' Taking a brief look at a wall clock, he concentrated on Vegeta's ki and teleported.

***

Ten minutes before the press conference, Vegeta was feeling a little nervous. It wasn't just the problem of ningen asking stupid questions but the fact that he always wondered if he said the right thing to answer them. After reading those books he purchased, he felt a little bit more confident but it wasn't enough. He hoped that Goku would get there soon because he always seemed to know the right things to calm people down. Turning on his heel, he once again began to pace the length of the room with his vision focused on the floor. A few seconds later he bumped into something solid and immovable.

"You got here in time, eh?" He asked recognizing his commander's ki.

"Yeah." Goku looked around trying to recognize where he was. After figuring out it was the throne room he dashed off through the a door behind the dias and emerged into the back hallway. "Bathroom, bathroom," he muttered to himself. He still didn't really know where everything was. It was just like with the Capsule Corporation, there were just too many rooms. After opening his fourth door he found a half-bath that was obviously there for visitors. He shut the door and quickly began changing his clothes.

His royal outfit was completely different from the old one of Vegeta-sei. It had Vegeta's family mark on the front, a red symbol resembling an anchor, but that's where the similarity ended. For starters it was without armor of any kind. Vegeta isn't expecting the ningen to be able to kill someone in his court. The pants were a navy blue with gold braid down the outside of the legs and tucked into the black knee-high boots and there matching navy blue and gold braid trimmed jacket with the royal mark in red on the left side. Underneath the jacket went a plain white shirt with a ruffle underneath his chin. The outfit was stiff and uncomfortable but Vegeta claimed it looked royal. The girls all had the same outfit with with a straight navy skirt instead.

"Shoes!" He exclaimed as he wiggled his bare toes in the thick floor rug. "I can't wear my boots!" Gathering up his discarded clothes, he took off for the back staircase praying to kami that he would get back downstairs in time. Five minutes remaining and counting.

***

"Where is he?" Vegeta asked Bulma who sat beside him on her throne. He questioned her through clenched teeth that he was trying to make stay in smile-like formation.

"I have no idea, Vegeta. Just stay calm. It wouldn't be wise to have a heart-attack on the dais."

It was four o'clock and of course it was time for the conference. Both Vegeta and Bulma sat stiffly on their thrones highest up in the room with Trunks, who was on his father's right, since he was the oldest child. Bra and Jakina had their thrones on the next lowest level along with their other niichan who's seat reamained empty. Just as one reporter opened her mouth to question Vegeta, Goku ran into the room hopping as he shoved his foot into a boot.

"I'm here! I made it!" He grinned triumphantly even as his king's eyebrows lowered in displeasure. Goku moved to sit on the steps of the dias in a relaxed way. From Goku, no one could expect anything more.

"Vegeta-oui," the woman asked politely. "where is your second son?"

"On an errand for me," he answered simply.

"May I ask what sort of errand? It seems he has been gone an awfully long time."

"I sent him to another planet to pick up something for me. It's magical spring water that can-"

"I've been meaning to talk to you about that," Goku interrupted. "They've decided to forgo the original plan. Seems something more important came up with Taura and Kallen."

"What do you mean Kakarott?" he asked with barely supressed rage.

"You see, Kallen needs to be immortal and Taura's friend Jas is missing a part of his soul. Don't you think that's a little more important than what you wanted the spring water for?"

Of course Vegeta had to say yes. He couldn't prove to the media that he was a heartless bastard... even though it was basically the truth.

"Helping my son's friends on their journey is very important, I agree." He answered smoothly despite the fact that he wanted to strangle his so-called-friend. "Rest assured that this Empire will do all that it can to assist them."

"Why does this Kallen want immortality?" A man's voice asked loudly. "Isn't that something mortals should never have?"

Vegeta shot a quizzical look to his commander. That was something he would like to know as well.

So Goku told them all that Kallen had told him on the ship about Chaos and 'keeping the balance'. He didn't omit anything and when he was done, he faced a deep silence. Then a snort rang out from a TV camera man in the front and soon everyone was laughing uproariously. Somewhat shocked at their reaction, Goku lapsed into silence and shot Vegeta a look from the corner of his eye.

 _"These ningen are seriously insane,"_ Vegeta announced mentally to Goku. _"But if I didn't know how things worked out there in the universe I would be laughing too. Stranger things have both happened and been said."_

 _"You should have seen her face when she told me! She was incredibly distraught over the entire thing. If I have your permission, sire,"_ Goku's voice suddenly changed from insistent to polite, _"I want to accompany them on their mission."_

 _"Kakarott please,"_ Vegeta said amusedly. _"Whether I said hai or iie wouldn't even make a difference. You still would have done what you wanted anyway. Don't pretend to obey me."_

_"But Veggie, at least I respect you."_

Vegeta sighed. _"I guess I could settle for that."_

During their conversation, the media people had begun to mutter amongst themselves. Sudden a tall, thin man in a dark blue suit and a blue and brown silk tie cleared his throat and asked the most well thought out question so far.

"May I ask, Vegeta-oui, what do you need the magical water of Agalar for? Knowledge, Power, and Wisdom you definitely have and I doubt that Creativity and Luck are your aim. Unless you are going for Immortality and Love I would think you had it all."

After thinking up an appropriate response, he opened his mouth to explain but then shut it once again. For the absolute first time in his life Vegeta did have the faintest idea what to say. Sensing this, both Bulma and Goku spoke up at the same time, their voices overlapping.

"He wanted to bring it back here," Goku told him just as Bulma said, "That's none of your damn business." Both blinked at the other and Goku smiled tensely. "What Bulma-ouhi said. Just not so colorfully."

During this whole thing Vegeta and Bulma's children remained perfectly silent. Trunks was constantly glancing at his watch, Bra and glaring at the main in blue for even asking her papa such a question, and Jakina was fidgeting. The silence stretched on ever since Goku had spoken and finally Jakina broke it. Standing up from a throne that was still much too large for her, she fixed blue eyes on the reporter.

"Listen, Sir," she said in a calm voice. "My father, Vegeta-oui, is intending on bringing the magical water back to this planet in order to give to his people. Please excuse my mother for her earlier rudeness."

"I see," the man murmured softly. "May I ask then, Jakina-hime, how you feel about this endeavor?"

The little girl could have said "No comment" in fact, both her mother and her father were silently willing her to do so. Vegeta went as far as to order her inside of her mind. But Jakina hardly hardly ever lied and not answering a question was an even rarer occurence. So she told the truth, all of it, from the time Doctor Judek called the palace to yesterday when Goku had teleported to the ship. She ended with how she felt at the moment and no one had really known what went on inside of her mind.

"Sure, Papa's reason was selfish at first but I know, deep inside of my heart, that since he understands about Kallen and Jas he will do the right thing now." She turned slightly to look at her father above her with tears in her eyes. "I know he will."

Her words made Vegeta think hard about just why he sent both his son and Goten to Agalar. He could admit to himself now that he wanted immortality and power beyond Kakarott's belief but he was getting along fine without it. Why shouldn't he help Kallen and Jas? They would be so grateful to him that both would swear allegiance and serve him always. Again, Vegeta had twisted something completely around to suit his own purposes.

"It seems your daughter has a lot of faith in you," the reporter said quietly.

"Hai, she does." Vegeta was beside himself in pride despite his outward appearance. He was concentrating on what he would say about the Shadow Stalkers, the original purpose to the press conference.

"About the Stalkers," Vegeta began, "and all those who believe I am not suited for this job. Isn't everyone tired of the countless wars between nations? Aren't the endless boundries and borders between people of the same species wearing on your spirit? Wouldn't it be better to unite against a common enemy, to make sure what happened with the Kamoku-jin would never happen again?" Everyone in the room fell silent, remembering the incident that had happened no more than a month ago. Sometimes it was easy to forget that their beloved friends and relatives had died only to be ressurected less than a week later by the dragonballs. "I am creating an army above all armies to protect this world from outside invaders. I grew up in a militaristic environment on my own home planet, believe me, I know what I'm talking about. Once I have obtained water from the Spring of Power, my lovely mate here," he gestured to Bulma, "will create a pill using a bit of the Water. This pill will permanently grant all who joins the military power to protect those they that love. At the moment, ningen are ill suited to combat aliens sad to say." He let mock sadness creep into both his eyes and his expression, falsely sympathizing with the native race of Chikyuu. Grabbing Bulma's right hand, he gently held it in front of the cameras showing the people of the world that he was a firm believer in the joy of family life. That he was a kind man, a man that would never go back on his word. Bulma frowned inwardly at his sudden, and unusual, display of affection but a small smile remained on her lips. It may had been different, but it was... nice.

The media broke out into a loud clamor, questions rang out everywhere and the same woman who had asked the first question pushed her way to the front and almost to the dais before Goku stopped her with a glance. She held her microphone towards the king and questioned him in an excited voice. "Sir! Is this 'power pill' really going to work?"

Even though the question wasn't aimed at her, Bulma answered anyway. She felt that the woman was insulting her ability in science and technology. Barely keeping a lid on her anger, she answered in a cool voice. "I assure everyone that the pill will, of course, be one-hundred percent effective. I am fully capable of creating such a pill and as soon as my son and Son Goten return, I will get to work on it. The civilians will never have to fear a violent death again."

Her last statement hung over the heads of Trunks and his siblings while the media continued to jabber excitedly at one another and shout random questions to the king. Goku was happy that soon he would have something to do on Chikyuu but the kids didn't really like the way Bulma had spoke of death. She said that the *civilians* would never have to fear a violent death again. What about the defenders? Couldn't she think up something to protect them with as well?

Both Bra and Trunks resolved to become even better at their Art so that death would not be able to embrace them in Its icy grip. It seemed that their martial arts ability would be all that stood between a peaceful life and a trip to see Enma-sama.

How unfortunate for them.


	11. Book Two: Quest for Agalar - Quelling the Opposition

A small, almost informal dinner was held after the press conference for the media people and Goku was glad. All that running around town to get his uniform had made him incredibly hungry. As he reached over for a dish, however, ChiChi glared at him fiercely.

"Goku, it's not polite if you don't let the guests go first!" she scolded.

He blushed slightly and slowly drew his hand away. "Gomen nasai."

"I suggest you eat up," Vegeta began dryly, "before Kakarott inhales all of the food."

They made Goku wait until the guests either accepted or declined second helpings before allowing him to eat. By that time there wasn't even enough food for him to even consider it a light snack. He looked sadly at Jakina's hand as the very last rice cracker was about to disappear into her mouth. The small girl noticed him and stretched her hand out with a smile to offer it to him.

"Really? You're going to just give this to me?" To Goku giving away food was like giving away a kidney. There was a lot of pain involved.

"Hai, Goku-san!" She chirped cheerfully. "Someone can always make more."

"Domo arigatou," he said sincerely as he stuffed it whole inside of his mouth and chewed. He was going to say something more but remembered just in time that it also wasn't polite to talk with his mouth full. "I'll bring you back something nice from space, alright?"

"Sugoi!"

The dinner wound down to drinks and, around two in the morning, Vegeta finally stumbled off to bed yawning and semi-drunk. He collapsed onto the couch before he even neared the staircase and decided that it would do just as good as his bed. Mumbling underneath his breath, he finally fell asleep.

Ten minutes after six o'clock on Saturday morning, Jakina came downstairs to watch cartoons. She had a TV in her own room but watching Scooby Doo on a big screen was a lot better so she ventured downstairs. Clad in only her fuzzy blue pajamas with feet she climbed onto a chair and reached for the remote. She didn't even notice her father until a thunderous snore made her jump.

Walking over to kneel next to him, she wondered what he was doing sleeping in the family room. "Papa?" she whispered softly as she lightly patted his cheeks. She got no response from the king. Shrugging Jakina returned to her chair and to the comedic stylings of Scooby and Shaggy. Her father was completely forgotten.

A little after eight o'clock she began to channel surf, trying to find something worth watching. On the local channels she stopped on what seemed to be the news report. Her eyes widened as she spotted where the reporter was on location. A large crowd was gathered in front of large, wrought iron gates holding signs that said things like "Down with alien rule!" and "The bloody beast will never change!". Running over to her father, she frantically began shaking him awake.

"Papa you've got to wake up! They're rallying outside the house!" When he merely snorted and smacked her away slightly she bit her lower lip and turned toward the television again.

"I'm here, in front of the Royal Palace, with angry protesters who, quite frankly, can not tolerate Vegeta-oui any longer. People from all over the world began arriving earlier this week, they say, just to march on the Palace. It began at just seven-thirty at the edge of the city and the group slowly moved through the entire town brandishing homemade signs and gathering support. By the time they made it to the Royal Palace, the small group of thirty had become over three-hundred strong. I have here with me a local man and his reaction to the march."

"I thought Cell was back again," the old man sighed as he pushed up his glasses. "There was so much commotion it was just like when Cell had come to rob everyone of their lives. At first I thought everyone was screaming in terror but slowly I began to make out the words "Down with Vegeta! Down with Vegeta!". I wondered why they would ever say such a thing since he helped us against both Cell and Majin Buu but while some stuck to the main chant, others screamed out that he was a bloodthirsty monster and would kill us all if given a chance. I don't understand."

"Do any of us really understand the situation as well as we think that we do?" He stared hard into the camera. "Bloodthirsty monster or life-giving savior. You be the judge."

Jakina ran to the large picture window and pressed her face against the glass. It was indeed the same sight she had just seen on the television but much worse. Before the people were safely just images projected onto a screen but now they were living, breathing, three-dimensional beings. A fine trembling began to run through her body and she couldn't stop it. Tearing away her eyes from the scene, she ran back to her father and once again tried to rouse him.

"Papa!" she cried. "You have to stop them! You have to stop them!"

One hand came up to his face as he rubbed his eye. Cracking it open slightly, he peered at his youngest in confusion. "What's going on?"

"The Shadow Stalkers have three-hundred people holding signs and chanting outside!"

Her father once again began to shut his eyes, but her words pierced through the fog inside of his brain and his eyes shot open. "NANI?!"

She nodded in ascent. "You can't hear it because they're still outside the gates and Mama improved the sound dampening system yesterday morning." She waved her hand towards the TV. "It's been on the news since eight something. I tried to wake you up earlier but it didn't work."

Taking a deep breath and calming himself, he walked over to the window and took a look. Sure enough there were literally hundreds of people outside on his doorstep and by that time, people had chairs and coolers full of food. It looked like they were settling down for a long wait.

"Jackie-chan, go outside and try to calm them down. You're a cute kid, people like that." He hurried towards the back staircase and she nodded.

"Sure Papa. Maybe I'll sing them a song or something." Frowning, she opened the door and ventured outside into the bright sunshine still dressed in her pajamas.

The media pressed themselves against the fence, trying to be the first to say something to her. "Jakina-hime, where is your father?"

She smiled sweetly at them, trying to dispell her nervousness. "My Papa will be down in a minute. He sent me to entertain you. Would you like to hear a song?"

Several people 'ahhed' at her adorable face and, still smiling sweetly, she began to sing.

 _"On_ the good ship, Lollypop,  
It's a sweet trip to a candy shop,  
Where bon-bons play  
On the sunny beach of peppermint bay.  
Lemonade stands everywhere  
Cracker jack bands fill the air  
And there you are,  
Happily landing on a chocolate bar."

She danced, singed, and basically looked cute while Vegeta took his time getting ready. Finally he emerged from the house dressed in the dreaded 'uniform of horrors' and at a good time too since Jakina didn't really know the rest of the words. She curtsied to her audience and skipped off to get dressed and return to her cartoons. She felt safe now, her father would handle everything.

Once back inside she was gathered up into a hug by her mother. "Jakina! Don't ever do what your father says again!"

She blinked in confusion. "Huh?"

"You could have gotten hurt or kidnapped or," she lowered her voice as if saying it softer would make it less frightening, "killed."

"They're ningen Mama," she said to her. "How would they have done something bad to me?"

"The brat's got a point there, Kaasan," Trunks smirked. "Besides, we've been training her. She could kick a ningen's ass anytime."

"Training her?" Bulma asked in a disapproving tone. She didn't even correct Trunks' language. "You've been training my baby to fight?!"

Frowning and more than a little angry, Jakina broke free of her mother's embrace and stomped off towards the main staircase. "I am *not* a baby!" She practically growled. "I can fight just as well as everyone else!"

"Jakina please!" Bulma said sternly. "Now is not the time to complain. Those damn Shadow Stalkers are going to ruin your father."

She froze at the foot of the stairs and slowly turned around. "I know that Okaasan," she said in a hostile tone. "I do understand things like that. *I* was the one who seen it reported on television, *I* was the one who woke Papa up to tell him about it, *I* was the one who spent time singing to those people! I just about paved the way for Papa's speech! You can at least give me *some* credit!" That said, she ran up the stairs and down the hall.

Her two older siblings and mother were left completely stunned. No one said anything for a while until suddenly everyone began talking at once.

"I better go fix breakfast." "I'm going to wake up Pan." "I should probably get ready for work." With one last shared look, they all split up into different directions. The best thing to do would be to forget that incident never happened.

***

"How many times do I have to tell you people?" Vegeta asked, completely frustrated. "I doing something about all of that!"

"Kids still go hungry!" One woman cried out.

"People are still dying!" Shouted another.

"What about the homeless people?"

Massaging his temples, Vegeta shook his head. "I've only been ruling a little over a month. How in the world do you expect the problems to clear up overnight? Things take time!" He turned away slightly. "If you will excuse me, I have work to do. I don't have time to waste like some people."

Just inside the front door, Bulma had changed her mind about cooking and was seated on one of the elegant couches that lined the Great Hall. Even though she was quiet, Vegeta knew that she was worried about something by the way she twisted her hands in her lap.

"What's wrong onna?" he asked.

Bulma didn't even bother to correct him this time. "Have you noticed something different about Jakina lately?"

He blinked in confusion. "What do you mean? She was fine this morning despite the fact those stupid ningen scared the crap out of her. Someone needs to remind her every day that ningen can't hurt her."

"Well, after I told her not to listen to you anymore because I didn't want her hurt she yelled at me and took off for her rooom."

"Bulma did you make her feel like she was too weak to take care of herself?"

"Iie." She said immediately before she had really thought about it. Then her brow furrowed as she remembered exactly what she had said to her. "Well, maybe..."

"There's your problem. She doesn't want to feel weak anymore so we have decided to train her. Jakina comes from a household where just about everyone can fight on some level. In fact, you, Magori, Moura are the only ones who can't at the moment. It'll take her a while to reach the level Kakarott, the boys, and I are at but she'll get there someday."

"See that's my problem," Bulma sighed. "I don't understand saiyan minds or saiyan genetics. I know it's much more than studying blood cells underneath a microscope."

"I recommend that you use Gohan's library thing. Most of the saiyan studies records were public database. Luckily the scholars of our planet archived them in the electronic library before the planet was destroyed. As a matter of fact, I should make everyone in this house read them. Then they can all know the true glory of the ancient saiyan empire."

"The true story behind your viscous, murderering ways?" Bulma asked dryly.

"We did not begin to exterminate other races until Frieza came along," he sniffed. "Therefore I blame that girlish acting changling. We just were always a competitive race."

"Uh huh," she agreed. "Competitively murderous."

"Am I murderous now?"

"Depends. If you were getting revenge I'd have to say hai. If you were seriously pissed off I'd have to say hai as well. If it comes to defeating Son-kun, I'd have to say that you two were friends."

"I'll eventually come to respect someone if I can use their skills to further my own means."

"Of course." she agreed and then added something else in a fake British accent. "Well then, Vegeta, I will leave you to your duities while I take tea in the living room."

"Cheerio, Bulma my dear," he said playing along, "pip-pip cheerio!"

***

"She completely ruined my Saturday," Jakina muttered to herself as she aimlessly threw a rubber ball against her eastern wall. She half-hoped that she would annoy the heck out of Pan and waking her up too early. "I think I know that Mama meant well but I'm completely able to take care of myself. Maybe not against all of the others yet, but I can beat a ningen!"

The tapping that began at her door was in a special sequence that only three others knew: Bra, Pan, and Magori. She knew it was probably her sister since her little display in the main hall. She wondered why her mother hadn't come up yet. She was waiting for her punishment.

"Jackie-chan, it's me," Bra said. "C'mon, open up the door!"

"Why should I?" she asked.

"You're not mad at me! You're mad at Kaasan!"

"Oh, you do have a point." She unlocked the door quickly and yanked her sister inside. "What did Mama say? Is she going to kill me?"

"Um, I don't think she's going to do anything." Bra took a seat on her bed.

"Why not? I yelled at her! If that had been in front of everyone, she would have freaked out!"

"Papa talked to her." Bra grinned. "It's cool."

Jakina smiled. "Ah, the advantages of being one of Papa's favorites."

"Hai, it's wonderful isn't it?"

"Hey you two! You wanna go the mall today?" Pan shouted through the closed door.

"You want to?" Bra asked.

"Sure why not, I'll just call Papa's private line and leave a message on his voice mail. I know he's busy today. Mama seems like she's not doing anything important."

"Of course she is!" Bra exclaimed. "You know what the Kamoku-jin did that time they were here?"

The smaller girl nodded. "How can I forget?"

"Well, Kaasan's creating beam weapons. You know the kind that can wipe out hundreds of things with one shot? She'll be strategically positioning them all around the world so evil aliens like the Kamoku-jin won't be able to invade again."

"That's a great idea!" Pan exclaimed from the hallway. Bra rolled her eyes and opened the door.

"You know Papa claims he can hear us through the heating ducts when you shout like that."

"Gomen nasai," she said meekly. An irritated Vegeta was a dangerous Vegeta.

"I'll apologize to Mama and meet you two guys at the exit from the lab. I don't want to get into that crowd at the front."

"Yeah I can hear them now, 'Jakina-hime what does you father have to say about all of this?' 'Bra-hime, why is your father avoiding all of our questions?' " Pan laughed. "It's only funny because it doesn't happen to me."

Bra snorted but not with amusement. "Sure it is. Let's go."


	12. Book Two: Quest for Agalar - The Abduction

"Papa!" Bra shrieked as she ran his office a few hours after she, Pan, and Jakina had departed for the mall. The obviously upset girl took great gulps of air in an attempt to calm herself down. As she did that she was also trying to explain what happened and all that came out was incoherent babbling. Pan, who was in slightly better shape than her best-friend, began to explain the problem to Vegeta.

"We were at the mall and were window shopping," she began, "but when I turned around to ask Jackie-chan something she was gone! I mean, I didn't hear her leave or anything and we can't sense her ki anywhere!"

"You don't know where Jakina is?" he asked in the calmest voice he could manage. Neither girl could answer him, they only shook their heads no. "We'll have to wait at least a day before we go look for her. She should be able to escape whatever ningen kidnapped her." The two girls burst into tears at the word 'kidnapped'. "*Do not* tell the onna. Do you two understand me? She'll have the cops over here so fast the ningen tabloids wouldn't know what hit them."

"Yes sir," the said in unison.

"Good. Well, I'm done for now. How about some training to take your minds from this incident?"

"You seem so calm, Vegeta-ojisan, and we just lost your daughter!" Pan wailed this as if the world were ending. Vegeta's face was still completely blank.

"It was an accident," he said stiffly. "Besides, I know you both looked for her before you two left the mall so she'll probably be home before the day is over. I have faith that she will."

***

Goku held a large sub in his hand as he watched television in the family room no more than thirty minutes from the small meeting in Vegeta's office. His television show was interrupted suddenly by one of those infamous 'special reports' that they so often talk about. If it isn't a severe storm, a mass murder, or a presidential mishap it doesn't make the 'special' section. But this time the normal programming was interrupted by something very shocking.

"We have just heard, no more than twenty minutes ago, that Jakina-hime has been kidnapped! A reliable eyewhitness tape recorded a conversation between Vegeta-oui, Bra-hime, and Son Pan no more than thirty minutes ago."

There was a small crackle on the tape and then it began to play.

"We were at the mall and were window shopping but when I turned around to ask Jackie-chan something she was gone! I mean, I didn't hear her leave or anything and we can't sense her ki anywhere!"

"You don't know where Jakina is? We'll have to wait at least a day before we go look for her. She should be able to escape whatever ningen kidnapped her. *Do not* tell the onna. Do you two understand me? She'll have the cops over here so fast the ningen tabloids wouldn't know what hit them."

"Yes sir."

Goku frowned. That was definitely their voices. But how in the world did the news station's 'reliable whitness' record that? Finishing his sandwhich quickly, he contacted Vegeta while he chewed.

_"Vegeta? Where in the world is your youngest?"_

_"That's none or your concern, Kakarott. She'll be along after while."_

_"As of this moment, I am appointing myself head of public safety. So now she *is* my concern."_

He chucked slightly. _"Kakarott, Kakarott have you forgotten that Jakina is demi-saiyan just like your three children are? A ningen would not be able to kill her."_

 _"Sad to say there are more things out there then just death. There's torture and of course,_ " he paused, _"rape. If that criminal knocked her out with something, even for a saiyan it could be a long time before she woke up."_

Vegeta's eyes widened where he froze in his sparring and Goku could now feel the worry from him. _"They can torture her?"_

_"Hai."_

_"And r-r-rape her?!"_

Goku's voice dropped to a mere whisper. _"Hai."_

_"Then what the hell are we sitting around here for? We have to find her *now*!"_

Just as he said that the front door banged open and in walked Jakina soaking wet from the storm that was raging outside. Her ponytail hung limply from her head and she wrung out excess water from her shirt onto the marble floor. She looked like a drowned rat and by the expression on her face, she felt like one too. Goku, Vegeta, Pan, and Bra all felt her ki as soon as she entered the house and sped off for her location. She looked up at them all with wet bangs trailing into her eyes and burst into tears.

"MY LIFE IS A LIVING NIGHTMARE!"

"What happened to you?" Bra asked as she and Pan hugged her so hard her breath momentarily left her body. Jakina coughed slightly and squirmed to get free.

"First, after I lost sight of you two, some strange man came up to me and the last thing I remembered was smelling something strange before I woke up in a very dark warehouse."

"It was chloroform, Jackie-chan," Bra told her. "You know like they use in all the movies when people are kidnapped."

The smaller girl shivered a little bit. "Kidnapped. Such an ugly word."

Vegeta spoke in a completely bland voice though what he wanted to do was hug her and never let her out of his site again. Who knew raising children was both so wonderful, fun, and nerve-wracking all at the same time? "What happened after you woke up?"

"I was tied up. One rope around both my hands behind my back and around the back of the chair I sat on and there was a thick, strong rope around my middle. I used ki to burn the ropes around my hands to ashes and just snapped the other ones."

"What did your-" he was interrupted by her look so he began again, "The people there with you, what did they look like?"

"There were both a male and a female. The man was the leader, I guess, because he kept to the shadows and barked out orders to people I couldn't see. The woman I think was the one who took me from the mall. She had bright auburn hair that I think was dyed and bright green eyes. There was a mole above her lips on the right side and she had a lot of piercings. One in her eyebrow, nose, four in each ear, and one through her belly button. I don't know about any others because her clothes were covering the rest. But she does have a pretty nasty scar -- might be a stab wound -- on her upper chest and a heart tattoo on her right ankle."

"You had time to observe all of this *when*?" Pan asked. "You weren't blindfolded?"

"Obviously not baka if she could see all that." Bra rolled her eyes.

"Yeah well after I got free I knocked that lady unconscious and the leader man took off. He was screaming something about 'That kid's not normal either! Run or she'll kill us!' I heard a lot of feet running toward an exit but I made my own one in the ceiling." She grinned proudly despite the horror she still felt. "But not until I tied up that stupid woman. She's probably still there if you want to go get her. It's the only warehouse by the border with a hole in the center."

Goku nodded once and ran out the front door. "I'm on it."

"He said 'That's kid's not normal either'," Vegeta mumbled to himself. "Is that who I think it is?"

"What's up Papa?" Jakina asked while yawning.

"Don't you worry Jackie-chan. Papa's going to take care of it."

"Can I watch?" she asked eagerly.

Vegeta actually considered it for a few moments before he shook his head. "Your mother would kill me. Besides, it's not something you should know about until you're much older."

"Oh I see," Jakina nodded. "You're gonna torture information out of her. Gotcha. Will you be using the rack or some other new method that I've never heard about?"

He groaned and pushed her gently towards the staircase. "Go. We'll talk later."

"Okay. See ya Papa!"

"Yeah, see ya." Both Bra and Pan echoed. The trio ran up the stairs and disappeared around a corner. Goku arrived with the trussed up woman and handed her off to Vegeta.

"Whitness or no?"

"Whitness. Basement cell number four. Audio and visual."

"Really?" he wrinkled his nose as if smelling something bad. "A visual? Are you sure?"

Vegeta smirked with a dark gleam in his eye that hadn't been there for years. "This onna has attempted to hurt my youngest child. I will want to watch this one for years to come."

"You've done this before." Goku sighed. "I should have known you knew what you were doing. I thought it was odd to have basement dungeons but you were the one in charge of the blueprints."

"Just do what I asked and be a whitness. You will not have nightmares over this, I promise you that."

"How come?" He pushed a certain stone in the wall that was the trigger to make the carefully concealed door slide away and the stairs that lead to the basement appear. No one went down there and up to that point it had never been used. Everything that they needed to store was done so in the vault.

"Besides the fact that you're saiyan and deep down you'll love this, I intend to spill not one drop of blood."

"Seriously?" he asked, eyes wide.

"Seriously. It's completely possible, Kakarott. I've used the method before."

Vegeta's soon-to-be-victim stirred in his arms just as they reached the cold cement floor after the last step. She groaned and began to open her eyes but Vegeta's hand was instantly there to cover them.

"I will need a bit of information from you about the kidnapping," he said in his best professional voice. "Don't worry. It doesn't have to hurt if you cooperate." Goku moved off down the hall, not really wanting to participate but knew they had to find out who was in charge *somehow*.

"Who are you?" she asked, very unfamiliar with the voice. She did not deny what she had done. As they reached cell number four, Vegeta sat her on a table and removed his hand.

"I am the man who's daughter you were paid to kidnap. I intend to find out who hired you and torture them mercilessly. I have a suspiscion though."

Bravely she sat there, arms folded across her stomach, a glare in her eyes. "You can't get that information from me, no matter what you do. I am fully prepared to die for my cause."

"Good," Vegeta said as he uncovered an array of nasty looking devices. "Just what I wanted to hear."

***

Goku sat in the A/V room wringing his hands as he both saw and heard what pain Vegeta could inflict when he was trying hard enough. A mere beating didn't even begin to compare to what he did to the woman. Physical pain only lasted as long as it took to heal, mental pain lasted a lifetime. Few things could make him flinch, watching someone torture someone else was now on that list. Previously only whitnessing the horrible death the Kamoku-jin had put his friends Krillin and Yamcha through was higher.

Ten minutes passed, then twenty, and then thirty and finally Vegeta entered the room. He checked the tape methodically as if he did it every day and commented on one small error.

"I broke the skin about half-way through. I'm slightly rusty."

Goku coughed in discomfort but remained silent.

"Enjoy it?"

The larger man blinked as if coming from a trance. "Nani?"

Waving his hand to encompass the everything, he said, "This."

Goku nodded. "I did and that scares me."

"Listen, Kakarott, you can take a man away from Vegeta-sei but you can not take Vegeta-sei from within the man. You were affected even though you only resided there a mere day. You can't help that. What you *can* help, though, it how far you go in either direction. Too much darkness isn't good but neither is too much light. If you expose a plant to too much sunlight does it not die? The same holds true for too much darkness. Saiyans, by nature, are not creatures of light."

"Then what am I supposed to do, Vegeta? It was wrong for me to take pleasure in the suffering of others."

"I've found a balance within myself between the darkness and the light," he turned slightly towards the monitor and gazed at the broken woman who still sat inside, "I suggest you do the same. Hmm, thirty-five minutes. Not bad. She's tougher than most."

Opening the door, he made his way back cell where he prepared to sentence his prisoner. Tilting her head up with his right hand, he smirked down at her face. "Any crime committed against any royal family member is punishable by death. Public execution tomorrow at sunrise." He released her head. "Rest assured that the Lord of Shadows will get what's coming to him as well."

***

The following day was gray and overcast, completely unlike the day before. The sun did not shine, the birds did not sing, the wind did not blow, and spirts were not high. Both the king and the queen attended the execution but for completely different reasons. Bulma did it out of obligation. It would be expected that she would be there to whitness the death of the one who had taken her daughter against her will. Vegeta, on the other hand, did it out of pleasure. He wanted that woman, who's name he didn't even know, to suffer. She should have never hoped to commit a crime against the royal family and live afterwards. What kind of government did they think he was running?

Jakina, Bra, Pan, and Trunks all stood behind the king and queen with somber expressions on their faces. All asked to attend and all were granted permission. Other than those six whitnesses, very few came. It took place in the backyard, away from the prying eyes of the Shadow Chasers and the media.

Goku was granted the privellege of bringing the woman out to her death. Of course he didn't see it that way but Vegeta insisted that this was one of the highest honors a king could bestow upon a subject. That and revenge. So Goku led the silent kidnapper out, her hands tied behind her back, and forced her to kneel over the block. Once he had stepped back, Vegeta was free to speak.

"I, Vegeta-oui the Tenth of the former planet of Vegeta-sei, bring the charge of abduction against," he paused. He needed to know her name for this part.

"Um, ma'am?" Goku knelt down. "What's your name?"

She refused to answer him instead choosing to glare. Goku shrugged.

"Fine then. I charge you, Jane Doe, with the abduction of Jakina-hime. How do you plead?"

She told him the truth. "Guilty."

"Do you have anything that you wish to say?"

"Remember this," she hissed, "the Lord of Shadows will not surrender. He is strong where I am weak. The Shadow Chasers will triumph!"

"Right." Vegeta said in a bored way. "The katana."

Trunks had volunteered his beloved weapon for the event. He said that anyone who dared to kidnap his sister ought to be killed in just such a away. Unfortunately he couldn't weild the blade himself. After passing his katana to his father, he stepped back into his place.

"I then find you, Jane Doe, guilty of abducting my youngest daughter." He drew back his arm. "Your master will be joining you in Hell shortly." In one swift movement, he brought Trunks' katana down upon her neck.

"WAIT!" Jakina cried out just as it was an inch away. Vegeta halted immediately and turned to look at her.

"Is something wrong?" Vegeta looked as if everything in the world would get better after she died. As if a single death would change everything.

"I know what she had done was horrible but no one deserves to die for any crime."

Her father spoke in a voice that would take no argument. "This fanatic will die for her crimes. I don't know how they used to handle things in a ningen court of law but this is my world now. My word is law."

"Fine," Jakina muttered and turned her head away. "You may continue." She kept her eyes closed until she heard the sound of steel hitting stone and a basket being taken away. Still she remained until the corpse was properly disposed of and Trunks' katana was cleaned completely of blood. It wasn't until she felt strong arms around her that she began to cry.


	13. Book Two: Quest for Agalar - Goten's New Friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For all of those curious the date is now Sunday, December 18th. 246 days since the Kamoku-jin released their disease upon Chikyuu on April 15th. I'll add the date to each chapter from now on for those interested.

Everyone was still asleep when Goku made it back to the ship. It was several hours after the execution and Goku needed to do something to keep his mind from things. Making his way to the bridge, he took a seat in Vegeta's chair and sighed deeply.

"What's wrong Goku? By my data you are not usually melancholy."

"Everything." He sighed once more before looking to where he thought Don was located. "What does your data say about Vegeta?"

"Arrogant prince of a deceased race. Wishes to be stronger than you and will never stop trying. Hard to please and even harder to get along with."

Goku laughed. "That's him alright. But seriously, I saw a side of Vegeta both yesterday and today that I never thought I would see again. He inflicted pain onto someone yesterday and took great pleasure in doing so. Today he got to execute her."

"What did this woman do? He must have had a good reason for such behavior."

"She abducted his youngest yesterday. A crime committed against the royal family is punishable by death. But I wish he had just found another way to punish that woman. No one should have to die for anything."

"All living things die for many different reasons, Goku. You should know that. What if Vegeta hadn't killed the woman? What do you think would have happened then?"

His face scrunched up as he thought. "I have no idea. Maybe things would have gone back to normal and she would have known not to ever do it again. Who knows?"

"Vegeta-oui had to show everyone that certain things just were not acceptable. How many people do you think will repeat this crime after seeing what will happen when they get caught?"

"When you explain it that way..." he trailed off. "I know he told a few media people to be there, outside of the gates. They had to have told the entire world the story by now. But Jakina will have it hard in school. I think maybe she and Bra should be homeschooled. It's definitely too dangerous for them to go to regular old public school."

"What about your granddaughter, Goku? Wouldn't she miss Jakina at school?"

"Well I see it like this: most people don't know that Pan-chan's best-friends with both her and Bra so she wouldn't be in any danger. Gohan and Videl can just leave her in the school she already attends."

"What are you guys talking about?" Goten yawned as he took his seat. "What's wrong with Pan?"

"Pan's fine, Goten. It's Jakina I'm worried about. Yesterday she had been sort of kidnapped from the mall."

Goten's eyes widened as far as they would go. "NANI?! Is she okay?"

He nodded. "She's fine. She beat escaped basically unharmed. Her kidnapper's execution was early morning. I had to watch Vegeta torture her for information yesterday afternoon."

"What did he do to that woman?"

Goku shuddered at the memory even has his soul embraced it. "You don't want to know. Believe me."

Goten was about to question him future but was interrupted by the arrival of Vegeta Jr. "Don, how much longer to that planet?"

"Good morning Vegeta. Did you sleep well?"

He stretched gracefully, much like a cat. "Sure did. About the distance?"

"We are approximately half a light-year from the nearest planet that is free from Ankan's control. ETA is about twenty minutes."

"Sugoi!" Goten shouted. "I don't have to be on this boring ship anymore!"

Both Goku and Vegeta laughed. "We're only going to be down there a few hours at the most," the latter said. "That's barely enough time to stretch your legs. We need to find those magical holding containers, get ourselves to Agalar, and get back home. It's almost Christmas for Kami's sake!"

"Christmas..." Goten sighed as he remembered all of the presents he got over the years. A lot of clothes and school books from his mother, something really cool from Gohan and his father, and the best things always came from Trunks. Of course he gave him a lot of good presents as well. Best-friends were just like that. "Do you think we can do all of this in seven days?"

Vegeta shook his head. "I seriously doubt it."

"Good," Kallen looked out a nearby window and shook her head at all of the stars, "whatever all! Everyone sleep well?"

Vegeta and Goten nodded while Goku sighed as he remembered what his dreams were filled with. He didn't have any nightmares, exactly, but images that would make the Vegeta of thirty years ago jump for joy. They disturbed him. Everyone noticed that Goku wasn't his usually jovial self and of course someone asked him about it.

"Tousan, what else happened back on Chikyuu?" Goten questioned. "Was it the execution?"

"Execution? *What* execution?" Vegeta asked. "Anyone I know?"

"*I* didn't even know her name," Goku said quietly. "But I still felt for her from the point I got her from that warehouse after Jakina beat her up. I knew Vegeta was going to do something that I considered rash but there was nothing I could do to stop it."

"Hold on!" Vegeta exclaimed. "Back on up to the beginning. What the hell happened back on Chikyuu?"

"Your sister was kidnapped from the mall but didn't nothing happen to her. I had to watch Vegeta torture the woman who did it for information and stand by as he beheaded her at the public execution this morning. Neither event qualified for the most horrible thing I had seen in my lifetime but that isn't why I keep thinking about it."

Kallen nodded with understanding. "You worry about enjoying it. Your mind says that you shouldn't but your heart and soul do anyway. I don't think there is much you can do about that. Did you speak with Vegeta?"

"Hai," Goku bit his lip slightly. "He told me that the violence was a part of who I am no matter where I grew up. It all falls back on being completely saiyan. I would think that people with less than full saiyan blood wouldn't be affected as much as Vegeta and I are. I had thought before that if you spent your childhood in a happy and pleasant place that you would also grow up to be happy and pleasant. But it doesn't apply to saiyans. It's like the fighting and bloodlust are in my genetic makeup and no matter what I do I will always have murderous urges." He sighed deeply yet another time. "It's not fair."

"That sure was a lot from you, Tousan. But I slightly feel that way but I'm sure Vegeta and Trunks feel it more. I know that I love to fight and when I successfully defeat someone I feel elated." He shrugged. "I've leaned to just deal with it."

"That almost exactly what Vegeta said!" Goku exclaimed. "So what you're saying is that it's a part of me and I should learn to accept it because it helps to define who I am?"

Goten blinked. "Is that what I said?"

Laughing, Kallen answer him. "Yes, that's what you said. I personally think it's a wonderful idea. You can't choose who you are but you can control what you do. If you don't want to act on the violent side of yourself, then don't! That's what your will is for."

Everyone fell silent to think about what she said until Vegeta broke it with a very off-topic question. "So, what is everyone buying me for Christmas?"

"Christmas?" Kallen asked. "What is that?"

Deciding to fill the remaining fifteen mintues with an explanation, Vegeta began. "Many people celebrate it for different reasons but the Christians believe..."

***

"For the last time iie Goten!" Vegeta shrieked. "We will not spend Kallen's good money on something so idiotic!"

"But it's so cute!" Goten was whining like a two-year-old as he pressed his face against the glass display case of a shop that sold various pets.

"Goten, you don't even have any idea what it is." Goku pointed out. "Besides, I doubt Vegeta would let you keep a pet."

"It's looking at me with those big, sad eyes," Goten said. "Like it wants me to take it home."

'It' was a gray puff ball that resembled a dust mote. The creature had huge blue eyes that caught attention when people passed by, a long gray tail with a ball at the end, and it floated in mid-air. Because it had no visible ears, mouth, nose, or legs it looked just like dust-covered basketball. Goten made chibi eyes at Kallen until she sighed and led them all into the store.

"Consider it my Christmas present, Goten. I know it'll make you happy, whatever it is."

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!" He gave her a great hug. "I love you!"

"Can I help you?" The man behind the counter asked them.

"How much is that puff ball in the window?"

"Arf! Arf!" Vegeta joked and Goten and Goku just broke up. Neither Kallen nor the store clerk got it.

"Are you interested in the little Keekle baby?" He smiled. "A very good choice. We take several major intergalactic debit cards and several different curriencies."

"What does the keekle eat? Won't we have to buy special food for it?" Vegeta asked.

"Oh not at all! Keekles eat something that everyone has. It's like a living vacuum. It eats dust! Many people enjoy having one to keep their house clean. They're very neat pets. Once the dust goes in there is no waste so you never have to clean up after them. They enjoy music and just bonding with their owners. You know, I like you guys so I'm going to give you my very last keekle for half the original price!"

"Go on Kallen," Goten nudged her with a happy expression. It was all he could do to keep himself from jumping up and down in place. "Pay the man."

She sighed and pulled out her wallet. "How much?"

"Only three-thousand units!"

The three saiyan's mouths all dropped open but Kallen still handed him her debit card. "Realx guys!" she laughed. "That's only about thirty American dollars. My bank account has a lot of money that I had no idea what to do with anyway. Making someone happy with it is the least I can do."

Goten, eyes shining with emotion, held her hands in his. "Can I marry you?"

"I think I'm a bit too old for you..." she shook her head. "Sorry but no."

The store clerk lifted the keekle from the cage it was in and handed it to its proud new owner.

"What gender is my keekle?" Goten asked as he petted it. Its head was surprisingly soft like silk.

"They're asexual so I guess any one you want."

"It's a he then. I'll call him..." he trailed off in thought. "Bob!"

"Bob?!" Everyone repeated in surprise.

"Yeah! Isn't that a nice name?"

Vegeta reached out his hand to pet Bob. "Yeah nice." The keekle opened it's formally hidden mouth wide and sucked his entire hand in. "What is it doing to me?!"

"That's how a keekle eats," the store clerk explained. "They suck in dust."

Vegeta yanked his hand out of Bob's mouth. "It's not supposed to be trying to eat *me*!"

"Maybe he doesn't like you," Goku said.

"I don't blame Bob," Goten's keekle floated up to his cheek and nuzzled him. "He must be able to sense that you're evil."

Frowning at the little keekle, he crossed his arms across his chest. "It doesn't matter. Papa won't let you keep him."

"I'll speak to him if he says no," Goku said. "It won't hurt to talk to him about it."

They left the shop and continued to walk down the street with Bob darting around their heads. As they came to the city square they saw Taura and Jas sitting on a bench in front of a large fountain. Both looked exhausted but Taura was smiling.

"Hi guys! Who's the little one with you?"

"This is my new pet, Bob." Goten said proudly. "Go ahead and greet them, Bob." Vegeta half-expected him to try to suck in his hand too but nothing happened. He even greeted Jas with affection. The big man's face broke out into a smile and patted Bob gently on his head.

"That is extremely odd," Kallen commented. "Nothing happened to Jas."

"We should get going," Jas said suddenly. Vegeta had been the only one besides Taura to ever hear him speak so the rest were shocked beyond belief. To answer them he said, "Yes I can talk. I just choose not to."

"We're off then. I loaded up everything in the ship before he walked the city," Vegeta told them. "What about you guys?"

"We're having ours delieved to the docking bay. I was wondering, Kallen, if you could shrink my ship down so that we could travel with you guys. It doesn't make much sense to use two seperate ships."

"There's a spell I have to cast on it, Taura, so that it will be able to do that. It'll take me about twenty minutes from start to finish. I'm not the best mage out there so hopefully it'll work the first time."

"How long did it take you to do your ship?"

She blushed slightly. "Three hours but that was my first time. I've gotten better since then."

"Sure then. We'll meet you back at the ship. In the meantime, we can find something to do. Are there any museums or something?" Vegeta asked her.

"Plenty of them. Actually anything you see on the street might interest you. I don't know just how different your culture is exactly but I saw Goten 'oohing' and 'ahhing' at just about everything he saw."

"He's Goten," Vegeta said with a grin. "With a brain that small it doesn't take much to fascinate him."

"Bob, sic him!" Goten commanded. The little keekle enthusiastically sucked up Vegeta's hand again right to his wrist. He shook his arm to dislodge him but the little creature refused to let go. Shrugging, he let him stay. His hand was sort of like a keekle pacifier.

"You know Goten," he began with as much sarcasm as he could muster, "you're *real* funny."

He smiled at him with false innocence. "I know."

"You two just crack me up," she laughed. "I'll be seeing you later, hopefully with a perfectly magicked ship." She walked off down the street to the docking bay.

"Don't damage it!" Taura shouted after her. "It cost me tons of money and I'm still making payments on it!"

"I won't!"

***

It took less time than they expected; only fifteen minutes. Kallen found them wandering around the historical district gazing at the early architecture. She panted as she approached them and had a frown on her face.

"I ran all the way here! There's a *huge* problem!"

"Nani? Is it my ship?" Taura wrung his hands as he contemplated all of the things that could have happened to it. None were very desirable.

She shook her head. "Worse. *Way* worse!" She took a deep breath. "Someone took off with the ring."

"*THE* ring?" Goten asked her. "The ring we need to find Agalar?! Someone stole it?!"

"Yes. After I finished with the Taura's ship I went into yours to wash my hands. For some reason I get the urge to do that after magic. Anyway, I noticed the door to your room was slightly ajar so I peeked in and found it completely wrecked."

"How did you know that someone else did it?" Goku asked. "He's naturally messy."

"It's the way everything was throne around. Drawers were pulled out, their contents dumped onto the floor. I checked Goten's room and it was in the same state. Someone took the Ring of Agalar!"

"Calm down, minna." Vegeta said calmly. "Everything's fine."

"Explain this to us," Kallen demanded. "How is everything fine exactly?"

"The map's in the computer. I did it a long time ago just in case something happened to the ring. The map is projected onto the wall and I had Don record everything that was displayed." He raised an eyebrow. "Besides who do you think took it?"

"Of course it was Ankan or one of his henchmen," Kallen's frown deepened even further. "They were the only ones who knew about it."

"But they don't know about the magical holding containers." Goten said happily. "I hope they travel all the way to Agalar and end up dying."

"We all do, Goten." Kallen said as she led the group back to the docks. "We all do."

 

How many people are wondering about Vegeta's government and his army? ::counts hands:: Well I can't tell you much about it now but it's very important for Vegeta Jr. and Goten to get back to Chikyuu first. It involves the magical water of Agalar. Probably won't be any lengthy details until book three. Hai, I said book three. Surprised?


	14. Book Two: Quest for Agalar - Public School Inadequacies

**Monday, December 19th**   
  


The moment she had entered through the main doors Jakina knew that she would have a miserable day at school. The hallways were abuzz with chatter and somehow she knew it was about her. Children glanced at her from the corners of their eyes and teachers would look away. She made her way, alone, to her locker and quickly spun the dial on the lock.

"Jackie-chan," Pan said as she suddenly appeared next to her. Jakina had sensed her coming closer for a while so she wasn't surprised. Pan had left for school before the other girl did because Jakina had spent ten minutes trying to convice her mother that she was seriously ill. It didn't work. It never did.

"How many?" she asked as she placed her coat on the hangar.

"Ninety-nine percet. Gomen. The remaining percent are talking about that woman."

"I should have known," she sighed and leaned against the row of lockers. "I don't want to go to class but I have to."

"I know!" The other dark-haired girl exclaimed. "I can threaten them all with bodily harm so that nothing will happen!"

"Pan, both your mother and your obaasan would freak out. You don't want a scene here, not today."

She nodded in agreement. "You're right. Well I'll be going to class now. I hope you have a better day than we're thinking it's going to be."

She sighed. "So do I, Pan-chan." So far it was the *second* worst day of her life.

***

About thirty minutes into class (and after her teacher had finished lecturing and giving instructions) Jakina was called out into the hallway for a little "conference". She knew what it was all about before the teacher even spoke.

"Jakina, dear, are you alright?" she asked in a concerned tone. Jakina used to think that the way Hakura-san cared about things was great but at the moment it was just annoying.

"I'm fine. What you know depends on how you found out. Tabloid, newspaper, magazine, television, or radio?"

"Rest assurred it wasn't a tabloid," Hakura-san shook her head. "I don't like those things. I watched the news on t.v. last night and that was how I found out what happened? Did she hurt you in anyway?"

Jakina frowned and then shook her head. "My papa taught me how not to be weak. I knocked her unconscious and tied her up. Personally I don't approve of his punishment methods but there wasn't anything I could do to stop him. It's all about proving to everyone that he won't allow stuff like that. I just didn't want to come to school today, not because it's the next-to-last day before Christmas break, but because everyone would be talking about it and looking at me funny. It's irritating." She sighed and looked up at her teacher with tired eyes. "Can I go to the library until lunchtime? I could get started on that report you gave us for the break."

"Go ahead, Jakina. I don't mind. Just go and get your things from the classroom. Do you need anything else?"

She smiled for the first time that day. "I'm fine. Thanks for doing this. I won't forget it."

Laughing she gently laid a hand on her shoulder. "You're acting as if I just saved your life."

"You may have, ma'am." She said seriously. "Thanks again."

The time went quickly as Jakina researched her subject: torture through the ages. She really hope that Hakura-san didn't think she was insane for doing so but it interested her for some reason. She checked out several books on the middle ages, the period of time where the most torture had been done, and exited out into the hallway just as the bell for lunch rang. All-in-all it had been a very productive few hours.

"Jackie-chan!" Pan shouted as she and Magori spotted her in the hallway. "Where were you? We went by your class and Hakura-san said you had left earlier."

"Pan thought you had run away," Magori laughed. "I had to stop her from panicking." Pan blushed to the roots of her hair and turned away slightly.

"Iie nothing happened. I went to the library to get away from all of these people." She waved her hand around the indicate the ones who still appeared to be talking about what had happened that weekend. She seriously hoped that over Christmas break they would forget.

The hallway chatter changed in intensity and all three children noticed it. All three of them were short so the older kids, the fifth and sixth graders, were blocking their view. It seemed to originate from the other end of the hallway.

"What's going on *now*?" Jakina groaned, thinking it had something to do with her. The crowd of kids in the hall slowly began to part for someone but once they had passed, the pathway disappeared. Teachers came out of their classrooms to see what all of the commotion was. Suddenly both her and Pan's eyebrows shot up and they exchanged glances as well as words.

"What is *he* doing here?!"

Jakina shrugged. "I have no idea."

"Who? Who's here?" Magori asked them. He could not yet sense ki. His question was answered by the arrival of Vegeta himself.

"Um Papa? What are you doing here causing a scene? I don't like scenes!"

He took her hand and let her down the hall towards the principal's office. "I'm checking you out of this school. Kakarott suggested and I think it's a good idea."

Her face broke out into a big grin. "You're the best! Have I told you that lately?"

An odd, half-amused smile came over his face. "Iie. But I sort of got the picture."

"What about us, Vegeta-ojisan?!" Pan asked him as she walked along side. "Is my Papa coming up here?" Making a face, she added. "I doubt it, though. He's really attached to his job. Maybe Mama will do it."

"Pan, I'm the king. I can do basically whatever I want." He opened the door to the office and ushered the three children inside before entering himself. "That includes acting as your legal guardian to get you out of this school."

"Can I help you?" The secretary asked him. Either she had no idea who he was or she didn't care because her face was completely blank.

"I'm Vegeta, Jakina Briefs' father, and I need to see the principal. Is he here?"

"Sure thing, Briefs-san." He didn't bother to correct her. "You can go right on in." As they left the outer office, recognition flashed across the woman's face. Picking up the phone, she quickly dialed a number. "Janie? You'll never guess who I just talked to!"

***

Bra swore that she was being stalked as she went from class-to-class. There was always a low ki level near her but when she turned around there was no one there. By fifth hour she was freaked out and extremely jumpy.

"That is it!" She spun around and caught someone darting around a corner. She took off after them and found a small brown-haired boy running down the hall in the opposite direction. She caught him just as he tried to vanish into the boys bathroom.

"Look here, I have no idea who the heck you are but will you quit it with the stalking? You're driving me insane!"

"How did you know?" he asked her with a frightened look on his face. "I was quiet and people tell me that I'm the best at sneaking around."

"I didn't hear you. If I had relied on that sense then I *wouldn't* have noticed you. I sensed your ki even though it's pretty low."

"Ki?" he asked in a confused tone.

"Your life energy. Everyone has it and everyone has the ability to sense it. Why were you following me?"

The quick topic changed stunned him for a second. "You interest me."

She blinked. "Excuse me?"

"I find you interesting," he shrugged. "I investigate the things that I'm interested in."

"You are extremely weird." She began to walk down the hallway. "Don't follow me again. If you really want to know me, why not just ask me? Besides I'm perfectly a normal person in a perfectly normal family."

It was precisely that moment when a large crowd of people that she pretended not to know ventured down that side hall.

"Bra-chan! We have to go now." Jakina ruined the whole effect by calling her name.

"Why Jackie-chan? Did the wittle baby get in trouble at school?"

"I am *not* a baby and no. Papa just says we don't have to go to school anymore."

The old girl's face lit up and she began to grin. "You're lying!"

"No I am not. Just ask him."

When they reached the main hallway their father was surrounded by drooling female admirers. They stood there for a moment, watching in amusement, before they decided to take pity and help him.

"No, you can not have an autograph!" Vegeta told one girl firmly. "I don't even have a pen on me."

"We should be going, Papa." Bra said in a *very* loud voice. "We don't want to be late for your appointment."

The short saiyan blinked in confusion while the questions rang out. "What appointment? What's wrong? Is he dying?"

Bra leaned in towards them as if sharing a sacred secret. "You see, it's just that he's prone to random acts of violence. Papa has an appointment with his therapist three times a week to cure him." Then she gasped. "He's about to have one now! Run! Run for yours lives!"

Several girls shrieked and took off down the hall while the rest departed warily as if the would die if they turned their backs. Bra and Jakina exchanged hi-fives while Pan and Magori tried to catch their breath.

"That was so cool!" Pan giggled. "Random acts of violence. If he hurts something I know it's always on purpose."

"Quick thinking, Bra," Vegeta told her. "I know where you get your cleverness from."

"Yeah, Kaasan will be proud of me." She ducked his half-hearted swing and snickered to herself.

"Papa? Do we really get to stay home everyday and just watch television or play outside?" Jakina asked with hope in her eyes.

He snorted. "Of course not. I won't have my children or Pan or Magori grow up stupid. You're going to school just not a public one. The security is laughable, the cafeteria food is disgusting, and I swear there are rats in the basement."

"You took a tour of the basement?" Pan asked, her eyebrow raised.

"They just left that door wide open. They wanted someone to go down there!"

"Uh yeah, right." They paused a moment while Bra got her things from her locker and left the textbooks there.

"Anyway, it'll take me a few days to find a good school within flying distance of the palace but you don't have to back until after the new year. Someday I'm going to find out why the day of the new year is a holiday. It's pointless to celebrate the passing of a year! What did they do in year one? Celebrate the fact that they existed?" No one said a word to answer him as he pushed open the double-doors of Bra's middle school. That was something they wondered as well. Pan glanced at Magori from the corner of her eye and smirked.

"Who's turn is it to carry him?" she asked. "I had my turn. I think it's Bra's."

"Jakina's," Bra promptly said.

"Papa's." Was the answer.

Vegeta grabbed the little boy around his waist and took off into the air just to stop the argument. "You are going to learn how to fly soon. I don't care who teaches you but you should choose based on their method."

"Who's the best?"

"Probably Kakarott or one of his offspring." He smirked. "They don't push people from cliffs."

Magori gulped. "Who does that?"

"Me."

"Then I'll definitely choose Goku-san."

"Good decision. I won't have much time anyway."

"I was thinking about that, Papa." Bra said. "Why don't you have a cabinet?"

"I know you're talking about something other than a place to store dishes but I have no idea what."

"A cabinet is a group of people that help you make decisions. They're your advisors. Goku-san, since he's head of the army and now head of public safety; Kaasan, just because she's the queen and head of technological advances..." She trailed off. "That's it. You need more advisors, Papa. That's why those stupid laws are driving you insane. If you had a cabinet and a congress they wouldn't even make it to you."

"Who makes up this congress?" He was interested, that was clear. "Wouldn't there have to be special people?"

"You would have at least two people from every country in the world who would come to a formal meeting once a month to propse laws. The best of those laws make it to your advisors, the cabinet, who will reject most of them. The most important laws finally reach you. They won't be those idiotic ones you've been getting so far but rather the great ones."

"So each country has only two representatives?"

She nodded. "Unless you want some underneath them. Sort of like rulers of each city and rulers of each county. The rulers of a city in a single county would get together and then the rulers of each county would get together with the country representatives."

All of that information was a lot to take in but it sounded doable. "I'll have to get together with the current leaders of each country. Maybe at the Christmas Ball thing your mother's having."

"How about you erase the boundary lines and divide the planet into sectors?" Pan asked him. You can have someone rule over each sector and then you would have to deal with less people."

"That won't work, Pan," Bra made a face. "Chikyuu's too big. Besides, all of the maps and globes would have to be changed."

"You just want him to use your idea."

"He is *my* Papa you know!"

Vegeta said a single word. "Girls." And both of them shut up.

***

"Contacting Suk'dn-sei." Don said in a bored tone. "Putting through a request for Doctor Judek. Will connect in three, two, one..."

"Hello, Vegeta-ouji," he greeted pleasantly. "How may I help you today?"

Vegeta leaned backwards in his chair, hands folded across his stomach. "I'm looking for something. It has to do with the Ring of Agalar. There are a lot of catches to this thing. Were you aware of them?"

Judek showed the first hints of nervousness. "Oh no. I told you that we found the ring in the debris of a former planet. We studied it and found out that it was a map of Agalar. Anything other than that we have no knowledge of."

"He believes you," Goku said before Vegeta could respond. "We just need to know if you had any idea where the magical containers were."

"Well," Judek moved away from the screen and began to rifle through a large box. Various carefully tagged items were set gently onto the table as he searched. Soon he came upon a metal case, about four inches by six inches, and held it up to the screen. "This may be what you are looking for."

"A box?" Vegeta asked while narrowing his eyes.

"It's what's *in* the box that counts." Judek opened the latches and tilted the case to show the contents. "There are seven empty glass vials inside of this case but they are not very breakable since they have been magicked. We had our best mage casting all sorts of spells to figure out their properties. I couldn't figure out for the life of me just what they were for until you called. I believe these are the magical containers you are looking for."

"Great!" Goten exclaimed. "Tousan, go pick them up now. We can head on over to Agalar and be home by the twenty-fifth!"

"Hai sir!" Goku saluted with a grin. In another second he was gone. Goten jumped to his feet, grabbed Kallen, and began to dance around the bridge.

"On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me  
A partridge in a pear tree!"

"What song is this?" Kallen asked him as he paused between the first and second days.

"It's called a Christmas song. There are tons of them!"

"Can you teach me a few?"

"Sure!"

Goku returned then, food in one hand and the case in the other. Vegeta rolled his eyes and took the vials from him.

"Goku-san, why is it that everytime you teleport to Suk'dn-sei you grab some food?"

"Have you seen how good it looks?" he asked as he swallowed. "It's great!"

Kallen broke free of Goten's dancing and took the metal case gently from Vegeta. She closed her eyes and tried to discover for herself just what the vials were all about.

"A lot of effort went into making these vials just as a lot of effort went into making the springs. There is a rune on each vial that tells what kind of water goes into which one. I can read the runes because they belong to a written language that mages have been using for millenia." She opened her eyes briefly. "I'm very useful, aren't I? Anyway, to make a potentially long speech short the vials aren't breakable unless dropped into Hellfire and and the magical water from the springs will keep it's potency for as long as you need."

Everyone crowded around her and simply gazed at the vials in a moment of silence. Vegeta broke it by laying his hand on top of the cool metal and smiling softly.

"Well guys," he said. "It looks like our journey has almost ended."


	15. Book Two: Quest for Agalar - The Masters of Death

**Wednesday, December 21st**   
  


"We are now entering the Aglarian system and will be approaching the planet in half an hour. I detect hostile life in this solar system so be on the lookout." Don always informed them of important things. Vegeta had just woken up, though, so most of that went completely over his head.

"Can you repeat that?" he asked with a yawn. He hadn't gotten much sleep. Sharing a room with two other people was beyond hard. Since Kallen was the only female she got an entire room to herself. He had been forced to share with Jas and Taura (who refused to be seperated from the other). Goten merely shared a bed with his father. Jas could snore louder than even Goku and Vegeta swore it created vibrations that shook the entire room.

"We're nearing Agalar and there might be people who want to kill us around. Keep watch."

"Can you do a scan and return to me all lifeforms besides us and where they're located?"

"Done. Lifeforms detected on a planet ten minutes away from Agalar. They seem to be a race of aliens that are the most hostile I have ever seen." Then he fell silent for a brief moment. "Oh my."

"That doesn't sound like a good 'oh my'. Is that a good 'oh my'?" Vegeta was wide-awake now, eyes riveted to the view of a redish planet.

"That was a bad 'oh my'. Definitely a bad 'oh my'. Bulma told me of the recent war you had on Chikyuu with the Kamoku-jin."

"Hai. If I ever get my hands on one of them..." He trailed off, clearly angry just by remembering.

"You just may have a chance." Don said. "Because that other planet, the sister one of Agalar, is the Kamoku-jin homeworld."

He was at a loss for words. The only thing that came from his mouth was a phrase that had been uttered mere moments beforehand. "Oh my."

"Yes. Exactly."

"Send wake-up calls to all three rooms. We need a meeting and we need one A.S.A.P."

A few minutes later sleepy crew members made their way onto the bridge. The only one awake was Kallen who seemed to be very nervous about something. But she had been that way for a few days, ever since they began to make their way toward their destination. She sat next to Vegeta to keep an eye on the camera screens and noticed that there seemed to be a constant patrol around both planets. Don had slowed the slip so that they were almsot still to give everyone time to come up with a plan.

"I say we go in, kick some alien ass, maybe blow up the planet, and move on to Agalar." Vegeta was all for revenge. "People died because of those bastards."

"Planet destruction is a little rash," Goku told him. Even after his *very* painful death he was still reluctant to kill them all off. "How about we try to talk to them instead?"

Both demi-saiyans groaned, loudly. "Come on Tousan!" Goten said. "You can't give everyone a second chance. Look at Frieza. You gave him a chance, he tried to kill you. Look at Raditz! You gave *him* a chance and he tried to kill niichan."

"I gave Vegeta a second chance and he reformed," Goku pointed out.

"That's one case out of many. Those are not good odds."

"We will be entering Kamoku-jin airspace in five minutes," Don informed them. "What do you want me to do?"

"How fast can this ship possibly go?" Taura asked, forming a plan in his mind. "We would have to be fast enough without using the hyperdrive to completely pass them and land on Agalar. Once there I'm sure you can fight them. It's a little too risky in outerspace with the vacuum, freezing cold temperatures, and lack of oxygen. Especially since there are so many of them."

"Good idea!" Vegeta said with great enthusiasm. "Goku-san, can you and Goten help me fight them? Maybe use a lot of ki blasts to destroy their ships in the atmosphere."

"What will we do?" Taura asked him.

"You three get to stay here."

"There's a problem. A sort of big problem." Kallen spoke up quietly. "It's about the trials."

"Yes?"

"After everyone was asleep last night I contact the Sorcerer's Ruling Council since everything about Agalar is clearly magic related. I found out what the trials are."

Everyone looked interested. "Yes? What are they?" Goten asked.

"There are only two. The first is to go retrieve whatever you have lost to the spirits. I'm guessing that's the missing part of Jas' soul."

"So you're saying we have to go to Hell?" Goten's eyes grew wide. "That is not a place I would like to visit. Has anyone here been there before?"

"Um, I guess I can say me." Goku said, looking very uncomfortable. "I mean, I didn't originally get sent there. I made it to Heaven but I visited Vegeta after he died trying to kill Majin Buu. It was not a happy experience."

"The second trial," Kallen said before the talk could go any further. "is to seal the rift on Agalar. It has been there for centuries and was written into the original document. The Aglarians never thought they would be killed off."

"That's it," Taura muttered unhappily. "We're screwed."

"We could not seal it," Jas told them. "It's impossible."

"Maybe not. Did your Death Chaser group ever go into a rift?"

Jas gave Goten a look of shock. "Of course not. We just fought them back. To do anything else is a sign of madness."

"There you have it. How do you know you can't seal it if you've never gone to Hell?"

"Jas needs to go along because it's his soul we retrieving." Kallen pointed out. "But I don't think he has to be there for the sealing."

"I want to be there," Jas said softly. "I feel as if I'm supposed to be."

"So this is to be a group outing. Great!" Vegeta grinned. "I'll bring the food. Goten can bring the sodas."

The three non-Chikyuu-jin looked confused while Goten and Goku just shook their heads at his silliness.

"Don, maximum output. Take this ship to the the fastest speed without using the hyperdrive. We're going in."

"Speed increased to one-hundred percent. We will be reaching maximum output in ten seconds. Approximate time until we land on Agalar has been reduced from eight minutes to one point five. At this speed we should be able to break through the Kamoku-jin patrols with minimal damage from their weapons.

"We're gonna make it! We're gonna make it!" Goten cheered. He was cut short when the ships moved to circle them so that they wouldn't be able to get through unless they wanted to seriously mess up their ship. He groaned and dropped his head into his hands.

"I will quote Taura now," he said. "We are screwed."

"No we are not!" Vegeta grabbed the controls for the first time since the journey began and punched in a few commands. "Don, put cameras three through five online. One and two I don't need. Keep the main window centered on the direction that I'm taking and activate both of guns. Taura and Kallen, you can handle them right?"

"Yes!" Both said in unison.

"Good. Get on it."

"What about me?" Goten asked him. "I can handle it!"

"Gomen nasai, Goten, but your skills suck." The other's young man's face fell. "Just stay here with the other two and don't say a word if you want to survive this."

Leaning over the controls, Vegeta grabbed both joysticks and barely managed to dodge several volleys of enemy fire. Ever since the first battle with Ankan, he had been memorizing the instruction manual to the ship. Actually it was just a collection of commands and things both Bulma, Gohan, and the rest of the scientists who had a hand in the project had compiled. It was very helpful in increasing his understanding of the ship's functions though.

There was a gap in the line where one of Vegeta's missles had impacted and then blown up a ship. By tilting the ship a full one-hundred and eighty degrees he manage to fit between two Kamoku-jin ships. Their fire came completely from the front so they had to do a three-sixty to fire upon them again.

"Switch the main window onto the back so that I can blow some of 'em up. Full speed ahead towards Agalar."

The planet grew larger and larger in the window as they drew nearer. Soon the four crew members in the cabin were able to make out an almost barren wasteland when a large dust cloud that appeared to be a storm. Soon they were descending into the atmosphere and taking pressure from the reentry. The Kamoku-jin fire had also stopped completely.

"You did it!" Goten cheered, resisting the urge to hug him. Vegeta, panting because he forgot to breath during most of the mini-battle, smiled weakly and nodded towards the planet they touched down on.

"We're finally on Agalar," he said. "I'm so- What the Hell is that?!"

"What?" Kallen asked as she entered onto the bridge.

Vegeta pointed at two blips on the radar. "There seem to be two other ships here."

"We know one is probably Ankan," Goku frowned. "Who's the other one?"

Quite suddenly everyone heard a high-pitched beeping sound and it seemed to be coming from outside. Kallen, with a frown on her face, disappeared from the bridge all-together.

Vegeta gave an order. "Locate Kallen with the camera and use the entire screen."

"Done."

"Hey guys, there's something on the hull here." She said. "Yep. It looks like a tracking device."

"Do you think it belongs to whoever that second ship belongs to?" Goten asked.

"It's a high possibility. We didn't hear it before so they must be close for it to react like this. I need somebody who can fly to come up here and get it off. You'll probably want to destroy it as well."

"Do you see any Kamoku-jin coming down?"

"No and that scares me. It's like they have people hiding down here or something."

"There are no Kamoku-jin ships anywhere near this planet. They have all gone back to their own." Don displayed it on the screen. "There isn't a Kamoku-jin ship within five-hundred kilometers of Agalar."

"I don't like the sound of that," Vegeta muttered as he got to this feet. "I'm going outside and get this trial over with. All those coming with me let's go."

***

They trudged through the hot desert trying to find the Aglarian rift. Don was guarding the ship and all of their belongings while the crew members looked as if they were about to pass out from heat exposure. As it was Vegeta was just about naked because he had majority of his clothing trailing behind in his right hand.

Kallen stopped and fell down to the sand. At first they thought she was about to pass out but Goten noticed a look on concentration on her face. They all waited a minute and then she spoke.

"There was a great magic done on this exact spot," she pursed her lips. "It's a ward to keep out someone or a group of someones. Can I cast a spell to see exactly what?"

"Go ahead," Vegeta collapsed onto the sand. "I need a break *and* some water. Give it to me, Goten."

"Hell no!" He hugged the huge container of water to his chest. "You'll just drink it all."

"Goten," he father said in a stern tone. It wasn't one he had heard very often. Goten reluctantly handed him the water just as Kallen finished her spell.

The ground began to glow with a yellowish light for about two feet in diameter. Blueish runes also appeared around edge of the circle as well as a pentagram with a rune at each point as well as in the center. She nodded and her face broke out into a smile.

"This is why the Kamoku-jin didn't follow us down here," she said. "If any one of their people come even an inch within in the atmosphere, they'll die. This rune here, " she pointed to the center, "denotes how far it extends to. The ones at each point are the scientific properties that make the kamoku-jin what they are and the runes around the edge of the circle outline exactly what's supposed to happen if they enter the atmosphere. At least we're sure now that there are no Kamoku-jin hiding out on this planet. Alive anyway."

"On to the rift then," Vegeta sighed. "It's the only thing that we can do now."

Onward they trudged; Goten whining, Vegeta complaining of a sunburn, and Goku secretly eyeing the water bottle. Over hills and through valleys they walked on and it was now two hours later. Taura kept rubbing the sweat from his eyes while both Goten and Goku were seeing imaginary culinary delights in the air. Finally they went over one last mountain of sand and came upon the edge of a rainforest.

"Shade!" Goten shouted as he ran for the trees. Everyone took off after him and soon they were speeding between trees and other green plants.

"I smell water," Goku announced. It had been twenty minutes since their supply had run out. A clearing snuck upon them quite suddenly and Goten, who was in the lead, came to a complete stop.

"Guys," he said, "we are *definitely* not alone."

From the east came the man that appeared on their viewscreen along with at least fifteen of his fellow do-badders. He smirked at them and displayed the ring on his finger, the very same one that had been stolen from their ship.

"I would ask how you made it to this planet, but I know of your artificial intelligence. It probably archived the map beforehand."

"You bastard!" Vegeta shouted. "One Don is *not* an it, two you're going to pay for stealing something that belongs to the Royal Empire of Chikyuu."

He sneered. "Never heard of it."

Any further banter died on their lips as the third arrived on the scene from the west. Several people in black robes (that looked ridiculous considering how hot it was)and wooden sandals stopped a few feet from the center of the very large clearing. All of their faces were shrouded in shadow so no one could tell whether they were male or female. The one in front kneeled onto the ground and a split-second later the rest followed. Vegeta couldn't resist saying something about them.

"Who are you guys supposed to be? Grim Reapers in training?"

Not a word was uttered from the strange group as if they hadn't heard a word.

In the center, due north by all three parties, were the Magical Springs of Agalar. There were seven shallow wells, each enclosed by stone on all but one side, but there was not a drop of water in them. Behind the Springs, north from Vegeta and the other's direction, was a stone temple. A path led up between two sets of springs and to the foot of the stairs.

Jas took walked forward, completely ignoring the magical springs, and stopped right before he climbed the stairs.

"It is in here," he said, eyes filled with a different emotion than what they usually were. "The rift is in this temple."

"Great! Last one there is a stinky Ankan!" Vegeta took off at a run for the entrance to the temple. It took the King of Thieves a few moments to process that insult but when he did, it wasn't pretty. He ran after Vegeta, spitting curses, and waving his katana about his head. His men and Vegeta's crew eyed each other for a moment and then followed a second later. Since the stairs could only fit so many people on them, two of Ankan's thieves were pushed into the empty wells that usually housed the magical water. As soon as their bodies hit the stone bottom, they decayed into dust and blew away on the wind. Everyone stopped to watch it happen and there was silence until Kallen broke it.

"I wouldn't recommend that you touch those springs at the moment. That looks like a horrible way to die."

"Gee, Kallen," Goten said sarcastically. "I wouldn't have figured that out if you hadn't said anything."

"GIVE ME THAT BACK NOW!" Vegeta's deep voice shouted from inside the temple. They heard Ankan growl and then the 'chink' of metal hitting stone. The remaining members of both parties finally made it up the stairs and disappeared into the temple. They had all forgotten the third group.

"Spirits of the five elements guide us on our journey." The lead man in black prayed. A few minutes later he rose to his feet and removed his robe in one firm tug of his hand. Of course the others did the same. They all wore leather armor and had katanas at their sides as well as a bow and arrows on their backs. The leader man also had poisioned darts in a pouch at his other hip so they would be close by.

"Those who do not believe will never triumph." The leader said in a firm voice. "We shall complete the trials."

Raising his right fist, he began to march into the temple. The other warrior priests were right behind him.


	16. Book Two: Quest for Agalar - Mission to Hell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know how I always spelled saiyan and various other names. It's habit from when I used to be a poor, subtitless dubbie back in the day. Now I'm going to try and get into the habit of spelling them right unless I believe the word, or name, should stay the current way for some reason.

They found Vegeta with his hands around Ankan's blade, holding him away.

"I gave you a warning. This is your own damn fault!"

Ankan's eyes were wide as he looked at Vegeta. "Who are you? *What* are you?"

The other man released him and pushed him away. Then he bowed. "Demi-saiya-jin at your service. The name's Vegeta, son of Vegeta."

"I don't deal with saiya-jin. I learned my lesson long ago."

"Good! I'm glad you finally see the light. Anyway, it's been nice fighting with you we have a job to do."

About one-hundred feet down the hall the rift existed like a scar. Everyone there could see straight through to what they thought was Hell. Goku began nodding slowly and he walked forward to stick his hand inside.

"It's cool in this temple because of all of the stone but inside this rift it has to be at least one-hundred degrees Fahrenheit. Are you sure everyone wants to go inside?"

"Get back, little girls." Ankan smirked. "Let me show you how real men behave."

"Um, sir," one thief said, "if I admit that I'm not a real man, do I still have to come along?"

His leader growled and grabbed him by the collar. "You are coming or I will gut you right here. That goes for the rest of you!" Suddenly there was a stampede and all of Ankan's men disappeared into the rift. He paused to salute Vegeta before he followed, a half-smirk still on his face. Rolling his eyes, Vegeta started to step through but Jas yanked him back.

"The spirits are coming!"

The spirits were like phantoms, visible but not touchable. Some were as solid as the day they had died but most were semi-transparent. Vegeta and the rest of the saiya-jin gawked in amazement just as Taura looked at them as if he had just seen them for the first time. Jas' face was grim but he did not cover his ears as the spirits descended upon Ankan and his men and devoured them whole.

The pirates' deaths were not quiet. All of them, even Ankan, screamed in unbelievable pain as first their souls were torn apart. Next went their bodies but even souless they kept mindlessly screaming. It was their bodies' lingering memory of self that kept up the pitiful wail now. Even when Taura and the others finally covered their ears to block out the screams lest they drive them mad, Jas stood, listening. He filed away just how long it took the tortured souls to die, from beginning to end, and stored it away in his memory for later use. It might be needed just in case the spirits decided that they all were to go the way of the pirates.

The screaming slowly died away as the last pirate passed on and was stuck in Hell. They never made it to any afterlife since without a soul you can not become a spirit. The soul is all that's left after the body gives its final breath.

"Is it over?" Goten asked while tentatively removing his hands from his ears. Bob flitted around his head as if nervous to what came next. Goten grabbed the little Keekle and held him close. "It's okay, Bob-chan. I won't let those mean spirits destroy your soul." Bob shivered at his words and started to whimper softly.

"Goten you're scaring the crap out of him!" Vegeta scolded.

"He's scaring the crap out of me too." Kallen stared at the rift, her eyes wide, as if doing so would make it look differently. "I *do not* want to go in there."

"We're not doing this for ourselves," Goten said. "We're doing this for a friend. It's what friends do -- risk their lives for each other I mean."

A hot wind blew from the other plane, ruffling the hair of everyone standing before it. Finally there was a collective sigh and they all walked forward, deciding to brave it in Hell.

Ten minutes of walking on the cracked red ground Vegeta broke the silence with a suggestion. It wasn't a very good one as suggestions go but it was something.

"How about we sing a song? It'll help to pass the time."

"A Christmas song?" Taura asked with a smile.

"Sure, why not. Goten, Goku, and I will start and you can join in when you think you have the words. The chorus will probably be what you pick up first. Okay here we go!"

"Dashing through the snow, in a once horse open sleigh."

This is where Goten and Goku joined in. "O'er the fields we go, laughing all the way. Bells on bobtail ring, making spirits bright. What fun it is to ride and sing a sleighing song tonight. Oh jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way. Oh what fun it is to ride in a once horse open sleigh. Hey! Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way. Oh what fun it is to ride in a once horse open sleigh."

All three of them paused and looked at each other then. "Does anyone know the rest of it?" Vegeta asked.

"I do, I think." Goten said. "But we should sing the first part over until the others get it."

"Okay. Dashing through the snow..."

Soon the black towers of a gothic looking black fortress moved into their view. It took them twenty minutes to reach the actual structure but it was definitely worth it. The ogres there were the first living people they had seen since they stepped into the rift. Everyone stopped singing and was looking around in curiosity. About eight ogres were patroling on the battlements and all snapped to attention at the sight of them.

The ogres were blue creatures with horns that Enma-sama employed for various reasons. Some guarded Hell, some cleansed souls, and still others directed the good souls to their respective afterlife. It wasn't an unusual sight to see them carefully guarding a fortress in the middle of Hell.

"Who are you?" A short, stocky one asked. It seemed that this was a cue of some sort because the other ones trained bows on their group. Taura's eyes widened in fear but Kallen was already preparing a defense shield spell that would disintergrate the arows upon impact. This was another one she hadn't used before.

"Guys, don't you remember me?" Goku asked with a slightly hurt look on his face. The stocky ogre peered at him but his face shown no recognition.

"No, I don't. Would you mind telling us what you're doing here in the middle of nowhere?"

"I'm Son Goku! From the north section of the universe. Enma-sama sent me to Kaio-sama for training!"

"Son Goku?" A thinner ogre whispered something to him and he nodded. "You're Goku!" He disappeared from their view and soon the heavy wooden gate was rising slowly and he was running under. "Thank kami *someone* has arrived! I sent the request to Enma-sama ages ago! I am Enon and welcome to the Outpost." He motioned them quickly inside and the doors were shut tightly behind them. All of the saiya-jin had a feeling of entrapment that they just couldn't shake.

There looked to be only a few jobs in the Outpost. If you weren't on watch then you were preparing weapons for potential battles, taking care of the sick and injured, or just helping out wherever you were needed. The ogres that approached them then were all of that latter job description. Most were all over thirty but some were very young, almost children. Goku frowned at the sight of ogres hard a work and turned towards Enon with a question in his eyes. The short ogre sighed and led them over to where a small group of wore wooden crates stood and took a seat on one of them. The rest of them quickly followed suit.

"We have been here for longer than any of us can remember. As you know, Goku, time does not pass in Hell as it does in the living realm."

"Yes I do," Goku said quietly. "Time seems to stand still here as if nothing matters besides what you are doing in the present."

"First there were only a few evil spirits who's souls had not been cleansed before coming here. I have no idea what went wrong exactly. All I know is that they corrupted the other, less violent, spirits and then they began to tear holes in the thin fabric of time that separate this plane from the one of the living and they went through. Many innocent people have died far before their time because of these spirits and we can not figure out a way to stop them."

"Can you tell us anything about them?" Jas asked in his dead voice. There was a new fire in his eyes, though, one no one had seen there before save Taura. It was one of determination and righteousness. He would seek justice for the wrongs that had been committed against innocents -- children and adults alike -- and neither fear nor death nor hellfire would stop him. Enon saw this fire and allowed it warm his soul, to allay any worries he had, and fill him with a sense of peace for the first time in a long time.

"I have suspicions that the corruptors are evil beings the universe has had a difficult time dealing with. In fact, I'm almost sure that they are. I don't know if these names with ring a bell but they're a start." He cleared his throat and read from memory. "Furiza, Kold-oui, Koola, and Cell. The Ginyu may or may not be in on the entire thing."

Goku's face darkened like a heavily populated city in a blackout. "I had a feeling it was them. True evil never really dies, it only festers. Where are they now?"

"There is a Saiya-jin village within Hell that they have taken over. The Saiya-jin themselves have been locked inside a cell and have been there for nigh on twenty-three years. That is a really unique form of torture."

"I know," Goku said. "People of saiya-jin blood can't stand to be put into enclosed spaces for too long. We need room to move around, to fight. My heart goes out to them. I wouldn't be able to stand it in that cell for more than a week or so without losing my mind."

"You are kind, Goku. Most wouldn't care whether a saiya-jin's mind made it through such an experience intact."

He smiled but it was not full of happiness. "I am one of them whether I like it or not. Their pain is my pain. Their suffering is my suffering."

"What do we have to do to help?" Vegeta was already mentally preparing himself for the battle ahead. If they took out the head spirits then maybe they could recover Jas' soul. It was a shot anyway.

"You must travel to the colony west of here. The trip will not take you long if you fly. In fact that recommend that you do. The spirits can not attack those in the air." He moved suddenly for a squat building in the distance and they all quickly moved to follow. "I will give you a map for your journey and of course some supplies. Being alive you will need them."

"A map isn't necessary. I can sense them." Goku frowned even fiercer. "At first I wasn't sure who it was. Saiya-jin had never felt like this back on Chikyuu. But now that I know the situation, I can figure out who those kis belong to. Their spirits are weakened, on the verge of breaking all-together. I have to get to them before that happens."

As he loaded up two packs with supplies, Enon began to talk. "I just want to say that I admire you, Goku. If everyone in the universe has just a small fraction of the goodness that you possess, we would all be better for it."

"No one owes me any thanks." His face smoothed over a bit but there was still a very unGoku-like crease between his brows. "I do it because I want to. I protect the things and the people that I love. I protect the innocent people that can't protect themselves. I am no one important, just doing a small part to make the universe a better place." A small smile tugged at his lips. "Besides, it looks good on any résumé." That last comment was so unexpected that it left them all stunned for a moment.

"Uh, hai." Enon said with a small sweatdrop on his forehead. "I guess it does."

A few minutes later they were once again on their way to complete the first task, this time by way of air. The trip did not take nearly as long as the one to the Outpost, only about ten minutes according to Vegeta's watch. Various scattered, rundown looking buildings came into view as they slowly began to descend.

"It looks completely deserted," Goten whispered to the group. Bob remained close by his body as if seeking protection. Shading his eyes from the harsh glare that came from whatever gave Hell light, he started to step forward and explore. Before his foot had even come down upon the ground, his father's hand was on his arm, yanking him back.

"You may not see them but I sense them." All who could sense ki felt Goku's begin to rise. "Their kis are familiar to me."

A cold laugh rang out over the deserted village and all eyes were drawn to the small figure that stood above them on the roof of a building. Furiza, still in his fourth form, stood there with his arms folded and a evil little smirk on his face. He looked exactly how Goku had last seen him. Only the golden halo and the fact that his body parts were still attached ruined the effect. He hopped down to the ground, tail extended behind him, and approached Goku on his small, four-toed feet.

"Why hello, monkey. Long time no see. You look... well."

"Unfortunately I can say the same about you." Goku stared hard into the gleaming red eyes of his enemy. At first he had no doubts that he could defeat him but now, as he stood before Furiza, and let the feel of his ki wash over him, there was a tiny one. There haven't been many enemies Goku admitted to not being able to defeat and Furiza was not about to be the first. Walking forward he forced Furiza to take several steps backward. Tensions were rising as the two warriors stared each other down. That was when Furiza's father decided to make an appearance.

"My dear son, what seems to be going on here?" Kold asked in his best haughty tone. "We send you out to greet our guests and you decide to take forever in doing so."

"Forgive me, Otousan." Furiza said while continuing to glare at Goku. "This is nothing."

"What do you mean, nothing?" Goten asked him. "You were insulting my tousan even though it didn't seem like it. The atmosphere is so thick I would need Trunks' sword to cut through it."

"How many hours of therapy did you need to recover from our battle?" Goku asked in an almost amused tone. "I heard from the others that the mere sight of Mirai Trunks transforming into a super saiya-jin almost sent you off the deep-end."

Furiza, shaking in rage, hissed his next words through clenched teeth. "That is none of your concern!"

"You wanted to kill my friends and family before I arrived home, Furiza. That is unacceptable!"

"Do you think I care, monkey?!" Furiza was livid, now, his entire body shaking in an anger not unlike what he felt after his precious dragonballs were used. "You hurt me! No one has ever hurt me before! You were the first to ever injure me so therefore you had to be the last!"

"Furiza!" Kold roared over his son's words. It took the smaller changeling a short time to regain control of himself but soon he was making his way over to where his otousan stood leaning against the worn bricks of someone's house. Flinching at what was to come, Furiza cowered before his otousan. What had once been the scourge of the universe was now only a pitiful memory of what he had been.

"You have something that belongs to us," Taura said in a meek tone. Although he was eager to get the whole mission over with, he was also terrified of huge Kold-oui in his second form. "My friend's soul was stolen a while ago by one of your spirits on Tale-sei."

The black, painted lips pursed in thought. "Ah yes. Tale-sei. It's such a difficult planet to destroy. Wouldn't you say so, Otousan?"

"Yes, my son. It has special defenders."

"What do you do with the souls once you have them?"

"They are our source of power." The black lips curled into a smile. "That spirit devoured it. It is now lost to time."

Stricken looks came over the saiya-jin's faces as well as Kallen's. Though Jas' face was perfectly blank, he surprised them all but running at Furiza with obvious murderous intent. He might even had succeeded if the job hadn't already been completed by Mirai Trunks. As it were, Furiza batted him away like a fly and turned, irritated, toward his otousan.

"I hate days like this," he sighed in mock exasperation, "Annoying little pests buzzing about and me, bereft of a fly swatter." While he was busy being his standard obnoxious self, he didn't see Goku's hands until it was much too late.

"Give me the location of that spirit!" He growled as his hands tightened around his neck. He knew that killing him a second time was impossible but Furiza could still feel pain. "Or I will tear out your spine and show it to you."

"That's a really good threat," Vegeta commented, clearly impressed. Goku had just proved that he was a real saiya-jin in his eyes. "I'll have to use it sometime."

"Uck," Furiza croaked out. No one had any idea what he said but it might as well had been 'otousan' because Kold was right there in an instant to aid his poor son.

"Let him go this instant!" Kold demanded, attempting to use his physical size and impressive demeanor to get what he wanted. He was so used to it working that when Goku ignored him he appeared shocked to the core of his being.

"Tell me now Furiza," he loosened his hands enough so that he could speak. "Tell me now!"

"You can't kill the spirit, monkey. It's already dead!" Now smirking once again, he spat into Goku's face. "I've finally done it! I've done something that really ticks you off! I knew you couldn't stay in control forever, I knew that someday you would lose it and act just as uncivilized as the rest of those saiya-jin."

As if just remembering what was happening to his people, Goku's aura flared up gold and he transformed into super saiya-jin. Before anyone could react, Furiza was knocked at least five-hundred feet backward by a ki blast.

"Tousan you can't do that to him! You're not Vegeta!" Goten ran after Goku who was slowly advancing on the prone Changeling. Transforming himself he grabbed onto his arm in an attempt to stop him. Goku merely moved up to level two.

"I have no idea what's going on here but this can't be good." Kallen, though very sensitive to magical energy, could not sense spiritual energy at all. She would just have to make Goten teach her later on.

"Vegeta are you just gonna stand there or are you gonna help me?!" A fierce wind had sprang up around the two saiya-jin, blowing dust up into the air. Goten knew that it was only a matter of time until his father won the power struggle. He outranked him in that area. Going up another level, he tried to talk some sense into his tousan as Vegeta ran over to help.

"You're sinking to his level, tousan. Remember all of the people he's hurt and/or killed. You don't want to be like that. It's not necessary that you hurt him now. We came here to find Jas' soul and to help the other saiya-jin remember?"

"I remember," he forced out with considerable effort. Then he slowly began to power down, dropping out of super saiya-jin completely. Vegeta and Goten did the same. "This is not over, Furiza." His eyes were cold and hard as ice even though a smirk came to his lips. "Not by a long-shot."

"My tousan has officially lost his mind," Goten mumbled as he stepped away. "Either that or Vegeta's rubbed off on him." He looked up to see Goku's hand cut through the air with a 'come on' gesture. He then began walking in the direction of a stone well that wouldn't have been out of place anywhere on Chikyuu. The thing is they were all on a plane full of dead people. What did dead people need with fresh water? If they had their bodies there was still a need to eat, drink, sleep, and breathe but besides that there was no use for it. Goku peered inside of the well then bent down and lifted the stones completely free of the ground. Furiza shrieked and ran over to stop him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"I'm rescuing my people. What does it look like I'm doing?"

"How did you know they were down there?" He stomped his foot like a child. "That was a great hiding place!"

"I can sense them," Goku then jumped into the hole and lowered himself into the darkness below.

"Should we go down there too?" Taura questioned with a scared look on his face. "It's dark, damp, and there are probably rats...."

"And you're supposed to be half-saiya-jin." Vegeta said in disgust as he jumped into the well after Goku. With barely a thought Goten picked up Kallen and vanished into the darkness.

Kold-oui had departed some time ago but Furiza was still there. Although quite scared of Goku's super saiya-jin level two form, he was also angry that the saiya-jin had dared to attack him. For the first time in his life common sense prevailed and he quickly ran off to find his father and older brother.

"I'll just wait here," Taura said as he took a seat cross-legged on the ground. "Maybe meditate or something."

"I will stand watch. The spirits will not harm you."

Taura's eyes opened partially and he smiled. "Thanks Jas."

"Not a problem."


	17. Book Two: Quest for Agalar - Restless Spirits

The shadows were dark, amassing themselves especially into the corners. Goku stood there, on the hard packed dirt of the floor, and let his eyes adjust.

Off to the right there was a large room filled from floor to ceiling with wooden crates. They were all at one end of a tunnel. At the other the saiya-jin probably sat, miserable. Goku immediately set off in that direction and the others followed. Bob, surprising them all, lit himself like a lamp and led the way.

"I knew it!" A deep voice grumbled. "I knew nothing good would come from joining up with that Changeling!"

A sigh. "Who's fault is it this time? Every single day it's someone new."

"It's everyone's fault for not believing me. I told you he was gonna kill us all!"

"You did it by running into the cafeteria and shouting. We thought you had gone insane."

"Of course you did! You're all idiots!"

"Now wait just a damn minute-"

"Uh hello?" Goku called out. The angry voices fell silent at once and he peeked around the corner. Five saiya-jins were sitting near the front of the cell while countless others crouched in the shadows. Goku couldn't begin to guess how many of his people were imprisioned, their kis were blended together, but he knew that it was over fifty. That had to be some huge cell.

"Who are you?" the one closest to the the bars asked. As Goku stepped out further into the small space that seperated the cell from the tunnel there was a loud gasp.

"You're Kakarotto!" The scarred saiya-jin furthest away from the bars jumped to his feet. "You kicked Furiza's ass on Namek-sei! I saw it!"

Goku blinked. "How did you know that? You guys were long dead before that happened."

"Meet Bardock, our resident psychic." A bearded one spat out. "He's right one time and he thinks he has a gift."

"Oh? What was he right about?"

"I knew Furiza was going to destroy our planet! I was on Kanassa-sei and this alien gave me the power to see into the future just because I wiped out his entire species. These idiots over here didn't believe me and we all got killed. You didn't die because they sent you away before I got back to Vegeta-sei." There was an almost feverish gleam in his eyes. "You are Kakarotto! My son Kakarotto!"

"Really?" Goten stood next to his father. "He's telling the truth. You took look so much alike it's scary."

"You're one to talk, Goten." Vegeta grinned.

"Oh I almost forgot." Goku blushed slightly. "Well Goten, Vegeta, and I are here to bust you guys out. I can't even begin to think how you've been suffering. You're saiya-jin after all."

"Is that your brat?" A voice asked from the shadows. "He looks a little young to be the one that hurt me."

"Raditsu," Goku acknowledged him. "Oniisan."

"How are you going to free us little Kakarotto? You couldn't even defeat me without help." A quick flash of movement and he was backhanded by his father.

"You will never be as strong as he is, Raditsu! You don't know what happened after you died. He is the Legendary Super Saiya-jin! I saw it in my visions!"

Several different gasps errupted from the saiya-jin in the shadows. The bearded one jumped to his feet and glared at Goku.

"It is a lie," he said in a barely controlled tone. "My brat is the legendary saiya-jin. He is royalty. Besides, this Kakarotto is not a killing machine. He's," he curled his lip in disgust, "nice."

"I saw it, Vegeta! Your brat is not as strong as mine!"

"Wait a minute!" Goku shouted over their voices. After everyone fell silent he continued. "I am not the legendary super saiya-jin."

"Of course not," Vegeta-oui sniffed.

"*Vegeta* is not the Legendary Super Saiya-jin."

"Brolli is," Goten inserted with a grin.

"I know of no saiya-jin by that name." Then Vegeta-oui's eyes dawned with recognition. "Paragas' son? That traitor's son!" He growled then as if the mere thought of an insane traitor's son would get the best gift saiya-jin genetics had to offer. The one everyone fantasized about having.

"How are you going to free us?" Raditsu still asked his question. "We can't bend the bars or destroy them."

Goku turned and nodded to his son and to Vegeta. "Guys, help me." Then he powered up to super saiya-jin and grabbed the bars to the door in his hands. Goten and Vegeta did the same.

"I told you! I told you! He's the Golden Warrior!" Bardock continued to shout above anyone else while the saiya-jin in the shadows stepped forward to the torchlight's edge. It didn't matter to him that there were two others who could do the same. As long as *his* son could.

Slowly the the door to the cell creaked and then it gave way with an earsplitting metalic sound. Goku and Vegeta almost lost their balances at the suddeness of it but poor Goten hit the floor on his back. While the entire room burst into laughter he jumped to his feet, blushing and powering down.

"Who is this boy?" Raditsu asked as he approached Goten. The saiya-jin laid a hand on top of his head and Goten jumped in surprise.

"I'm not a boy for one, I'm a man," he said as he looked up to his uncle. Raditsu had at least five inches of height on both Goten and his father which made him at least six feet, six inches. "My name is Son Goten. Gohan is my older brother."

"Has anyone else noticed the trend?" Raditsu suddenly said after a moment of thoughtful silence. "Kakarotto is otousan's second son and Goten here is Kakarotto's second son. All three of them look almost alike."

"What about Tares?" Goku asked. He had been wondering about this for years but there was no one he could ask until now. "He looks like me, like otousan, and like Goten."

"Tares," Bardock muttered almost to himself as he stared at his son. The gleam in his dark eyes had almost disappeared. They looked normal, now. "Does he always have a smirk on his face?"

"That's not really helping much, otousan. Most saiya-jins always have a smirk on their faces."

"Alright then. He's taller than you, but shorter than Raditsu. He's also darker in complexion than you and talks in a very deep and gruff manner."

"That's him!" Goku grinned. "He tried to kill me a while ago."

"He's your cousin." Bardock said this with no emotion whatsoever. "Tares was not born on Vegeta-sei. He's an offworlder."

"That alone makes him a disgrace to the saiya-jin race." Vegeta-oui added.

"Tousan can we leave this place now?" Goten asked. He was worried about Taura and Jas. There were evil maniacs above ground.

"Goten, go ahead of us and make sure Furiza and Kold didn't kill our friends. Also make sure they're all behaving."

"Sure, Tousan."

"Make sure they're behaving?" Toma, Bardock's tomodachi asked with shock. He was a heavily muscled saiya-jin, though shorter than Bardock, and his spikey black hair was pulled back into a ponytail. "Are you really sending your son up there to do that?!

"Are you saying that I'm weak?" Goten asked with anger in his eyes.

"Not weak exactly, but not strong enough to keep Furiza in line. I've seen the kind of power his underlings have. After all they killed me, Celipa, Panboukin, and Totepo. Bardock was sort of caught between Furiza's blast and Vegeta-sei."

"What were you doing there?" V.J. asked with curiosity. "I would have never gone back to Vegeta-sei after I realized that Furiza was really gonna blow it up."

"I tried to stop him," Bardock said more to the ground than to anyone else. "I shot a ki blast that was eventually absorbed by Furiza's more powerful one. I ended up dying but I knew that someday Kakarotto was going to defeat him. I was hoping," he glanced up at his son, "that you would kill him as well but it was not meant to be. At least he was still killed by a saiya-jin. Furiza told us that he was Vegeta's hybrid son."

Goku exhaled noisily. "How many times do I have to apologize for that? I'm sorry for letting the evil bad guy run off. I'm sorry for giving him a second chance. If I could apologize for being merciful I would. As it were it came back to haunt me when he tried to kill off my friends and family."

"Rule number one, Kakarotto," Vegeta began. "Don't ever give the enemy a chance to screw you over."

"You are not my king. In fact, you are no one's king." Goku walked off into the darkness that was the tunnel and left everyone stunned. Vegeta-oui was tempted to attack him but he knew that he could never win.

"You shouldn't have brought that up," Goten growled at him. "Tousan did the best that he could. He *always* does the best that he can." Then he ran off to catch up to his father. Kalen was right behind him.

"Well, ojiisama, it's been fun but I have a job to do. I want to get back home, ya know."

"Who are you anyway?" Vegeta-oui asked.

"I'm Vegeta or weren't you listening when Goku-san said my name before?"

"*You're* Vegeta?" There were murmurs of surprise. "How can that be?"

Kallen's voice floated from the well entrance. "Vegeta hurry up!"

"I am Vegeta. Your son's second son. Wow, that makes a great tongue twister." He took off down the tunnel but his voice echoed back. "You should get a one-day pass from Hell to come see us sometime on Chikyuu. You can see tousan's empire!"

"Did he just say empire?" Vegeta asked with surprise.

There were nods from various saiya-jin but Bardock vocalized it. "He did."

"I have to find a way to get resurrected!" He followed the others back through the tunnel. "I want to be a part of it!"

"Wait Vegeta! Furiza's up there!" But he did not wait.

So everyone else ran after him.

***

"Are they gonna take all day down there?" Taura complained. "God, I wish I could fly. Or at least levitate so I wouldn't break my neck by jumping down there." When he didn't even receive a grunt from Jas he looked up into his face. He was intensely concentrating on something in the distance that Taura could not yet make out.

"What are you staring at?"

"There's something coming from over there. I don't think it's a spirit but it's something evil. Maybe moreso than the spirits because these beings do not usually kill the living. They erase the dead."

"What?" Taura's voice shook just a little. "They *what*?"

"While the spirits kill the living the souls usually end up in a afterlife unless otherwise directed. These riders attack the souls in both Heaven and Hell and completely wipe away their existence."

"What do they do to the living if so inclined?"

"They first kill them, then erase them, then make everyone who's ever known them forget they even existed. It's a punishment for being alive."

"GOD!" He ran to the well and peered into it. "Goku! Somebody! You need to get up here and save us!"

Jas was still emotionless. "The Riders'll be here long before Goku and the others return."

"I don't want to die!" Taura wailed as he watched the Riders draw closer and closer. But there was nothing either man could do. Just as the Riders made it into the village Goku exited the well. "Thank God you've come!" Taura cried and darted behind Goku to use the saiya-jin as a shield.

"What's going on?" Goku asked in a confused tone. "Who're they?"

The Riders were exactly what they sounded like. The trio of robed skeletal warriors rode huge and powerful black steeds that could cross a mile within sixty seconds. The gleaming scythes the warriors carried made them each appear to be the Grim Reaper but of course they weren't. The leader, a warrior who also wore a black helm, extended his hand and began to speak.

"You are the one who wants his soul back." His voice echoed strangely as if they were surrounded by tall mountains. "My master wishes to see you."

"Is his master Lucifer?" Taura asked, his voice trembling. He had never been so afraid in his entire life.

"Probably," Goku said quietly.

Jas began to step forward to take the leader's outstretched hand when his friend ran to stop him. There was nothing but silence for a few moments while the two communicated with only their eyes but soon the lead Rider broke it.

"I do not have time for this. My master wishes to see you as soon as possible. You do not want to anger him."

"No," Jas said. "I do not."

"What does he want him for?" Taura asked the leader. "What the hell does Lucifer have to do with Jas?"

"I am merely a messenger." He told him. "But you may come along to find out if you so desire." By a unspoken command, another rider moved his horse forward until he was even with the leader. Then he also extended his hand.

Jas mounted the leader's horse without a second thought while Taura hesitated for just a moment. He turned back to the people he had been travelling with for so long and saw Goku nod slightly. It was all the permission he needed.

"You can go back and we'll meet you on Agalar." Jas told them. "This shouldn't take long."

"Time is not the same here as it is in the living world. Does time flow slower in this realm or faster?" The Rider's fleshless mouth moved up in what might have been considered a smile. "No one knows."

"Lucifer knows because this is his realm." He stared hard at Goku. "We will return."

Goku nodded. "And we'll be waiting."


	18. Book Two: Quest for Agalar - Revenge is Sweet

"Are you sure Lucifer won't mind me tagging along?" By just saying that Taura was afraid was an understatement. He was downright terrified that Lucifer would not be pleased he came along and use him as a personal torture toy. The last thing he wanted was to die that day, let alone end up in Hell. The lead Rider nodded, his vertebrae grinding together faintly, and rode on. There was no more talking.

The dry and empty soil blurred together at the speed they were travelling until the featureless plain resembled nothing more than a redish brown streak. Taura clutched at the skeletal warrior he was seated behind even though he had to force his hands to touch him. The bones felt dry and warm underneath his fingers as if they absorbed the very heat of Hell itself. Shuddering, he turned his mind toward happier things like his business and his family.

He also thought of Jas and the way he had been before the "incident". They had been best-friends since childhood, from the very young age of three, and had remained so even after the spirits harmed him. No evil spirit would be able to break up a friendship like this. Not even death would ruin it.

A castle as black as midnight, as black as deep, starless space, slowly began to appear in front of them. There were literally hundreds of skeletal warriors both around and inside the high walls and all were hard at work. Taura had a feeling that the very evil of Hell resided there and that alone made him not want to go in. But if Jas was entering, he was entering.

It wasn't a very good idea to stay outside alone either.

"I will take you to him," the leader spoke slowly as he dismounted his red-eyed horse and handed the black leather reins to a nearby skeleton to take away. The two other Riders bowed briefly and marched off to the stable. Jas followed the other one through the black iron gates and into the courtyard, Taura close behind him.

By standing in the exact middle of the courtyard Taura could see the entire area around him. Behind was the heavy iron gates already being closed as if preventing his escape. To both the left and the right were various buildings where he could hear faint screams coming from them. Maybe they were the torture chambers. The thought made him shudder. To the front was the dark castle. Its tall towers rising above them to darken the horizon.

Of course that was where they were going.

From the black iron portcullis that Taura was afraid to walk under there was a long, dark hallway made of black marble and black stone. There were sconces lining the walls off the passage but they were empty of light. This left the frightened demi-saiyan wondering where the light came from that allowed him to see his way.

For long minutes he followed Jas and the skeleton, straight to the origin of darkness so to speak. A cold wind seemed to seep from the stone around him until his bones ached and his fingers were numb. Jas didn't seem to be having any problems and Taura wondered how he did it.

"Are we almost there?" he asked and his voice echoed in the emptiness and quiet. When it bounced back from the high ceiling he jumped. The echo didn't sound like his voice at all.

"You don't have much farther to go," the skeleton said. His voice didn't resound one bit.

They were told to wait in a room darker than even the hall they had been travelling down. There were only four things occupying the space. A black leather couch that the two currently sat on, a darkened marble fireplace that was empty of both wood and ashes, a desk made of dark wood, and a large, completely full, book case against the wall behind the desk. It looked more like a study than a place you would wait for the Keeper of Hell. It seemed Lucifer had class.

"Is your body as cold as mine?" Taura asked curiously as soon as the skeleton had closed the heavy wooden door behind him. He was tempted to go over and see if there was a way to light the fireplace without any wood or matches

"No." A pause, then, "Are you alright?"

"Oh sure. I'm perfectly fine." He laughed but it was tinged with an edge of hysteria. "Here am I, in Hell, waiting for Lucifer to arrive. Everything's completely normal!" He took a deep breath and calmed himself. "Do you ever wonder if you'll ever find your soul?"

"I try not to let doubt bother me," he replied as he stared straight ahead. "If you only think of the bad then the good never has a chance to happen." He shrugged. "You probably think that's stupid."

He shook his head with a smile. "Not at all. In fact, I think that's a very good thing to say."

The wide-open door surprised them both though Jas was better at hiding it. It had opened slowly on well-oiled hinges, not making a sound. It was the soft thud of the doorknob against the wall that made them both look up. At first no one was there but soon a something began to materialize as if taking shape from the very air. Eventually a man stood there staring at them, clad in black armor and equally black clothes underneath. He walked to his desk making the very air swirl with supernatural energy. A black leather swivel chair also materialized much in the same way he did and the man took a seat, folding his hands carefully across the desk's smooth, dark varnished surface.

"You're not Lucifer, are you?" Taura asked him. He was more than a little surprised but considering how he entered anything was possible.

"Does my appearance surprise you?" He smiled slowly and his dark, fathomless eyes lit up when he saw Taura squirm after he voiced his thoughts. "I'm sure you don't want to see my true form. Nightmares can't be good for you."

Jas changed the subject back to matter at hand. "Why have you called this meeting, Lord Lucifer?"

"Simply stated I can help you. I know you wish to find and obliterate one of my dark spirits. I know where he is."

"Does he have what I want?"

Lucifer leaned forward, his dark hair falling into his eyes. "Perhaps."

A low growling began deep in the large man. "No jokes, Lucifer. Give me the dark spirit."

"What will you do in return for my assistance?" The smile became a smirk as the Lord of Darkness and Master of Hell revealed his little catch. Taura shivered slightly at the look and begged his friend silently not to give him anything. They could find another way to retrieve his soul. It just might take considerably longer than they thought.

As if Jas sensed what the demi-saiya-jin was thinking, he spoke and it was only to him. "We don't have any more time. I could be this way permanently if something isn't done soon. A favor for Lucifer isn't so bad. It's better than being indebted to him at a later date."

"You're right," Taura sighed. "Go ahead. I won't interfere."

"I am not an evil man. What I can offer in return will not interest the Master of Hell." He spoke smoothly. "Ask anything but I won't kill or torture anyone. Not even if they were a hated enemy."

"The Dai Kaio would love you up there in Heaven," Lucifer commented. "You would make a very pure spirit. Still, it limits what I can ask of you." His lips pursed in thought and every single silent second that passed by increased Taura's nervousness. Beads of sweat were slowly making their way down his back and he just couldn't stop his hands from shaking. The faint creaking of leather as Lucifer stood up broke the oppressive silence that had settled over the room.

"Be my eyes, ears, and hands in the mortal realm and I will help you recover what you have lost."

"I knew it!" Taura muttered to himself. "What he was going to request was going to be so out there that there would be no way Jas would..."

"I accept your request," He stuck out his hand and Lucifer shook it.

"...do it," he finished lamely as he watched the deal being made. Things must be more dire than he thought.

"Excellent," Lucifer said quietly as he put some sort of spell on Jas. "Your eyes are now my eyes, you ears are now my ears, your hands are now my hands. In return you will be able to call upon me for assistance."

"I will never need your help."

"Suit yourself," he shrugged and he summoned the spirit into his chamber. "I release thee from my protection on the grounds that you have done a grave injustice against one of my servants. He will now issue a suitable punishment for your crime." After saying these words a misty substance was lifted from the dark spirit and, by pointing a perfectly shaped index finger, replaced back within Jas where it belonged. The dark spirit's eyes bulged in fear at what was to come. "Your soul is whole once more and the deal has been made." He began to fade until his form was as transparent as the soul. His deep voice continued to echo, though, and it reached deep into both Jas and Taura's hearts. "We will meet again and next time it might not be on such friendly terms."

"I will be prepared," the large man said calmly as Lucifer vanished completely. "Farewell."

And Taura released a breath that he didn't know he had been holding.

***

"Back me up, guys!" Kallen shouted as she reached into her pocket. She then pulled something small from it and enlarged it to the proper size just as Goten, Goku, and V.J. shot ki blasts as the spirits.

Kallen's spellbook was far from complete; even less than it was supposed to be since she had tried to suppress her magical talents. There were mostly common, mundane spells that created light or ignited fireplaces but there were a couple in there that did much more. The minimization spell was one of those. Kallen had learned it several years ago but it took a long time to memorize and master. Another spell in her book -- and it ranged from easy to extremely hard -- was the Spell of Closing.

The Spell of Closing could be used for lots of different things -- doors, windows, interdimensional gateways -- but she was going to use it to seal the rift. A lot of power and concentration was needed for the job so she directed the three saiya-jin to watch her back. That said a lot coming from a woman who grew up in a neighborhood where friends killed friends and said friends killed family. She had come to trust them with her life in a very short amount of time.

Opening her spellbook she thumbed to the right page. There was a diagram listed and underneath it were runes that told what each part was for. She quickly read this, because this was her first time ever doing this level of the spell.

It began with drawing a magical diagram on the stone floor in chalk with the rift in the center. Then she carefully wrote the runes into their places, consulting the book every now and then. The most common causes of spell failure were incorrect or incomplete runes. Then she muttered the words over the symbol and had to shield her eyes when it began to glow.

From the moment she had been searching for the Spell of Closing, spirits had been coming through the rift at an incredible rate. Goku was just pushing them back to Hell while Vegeta took great pleasure in blowing each dead person apart, scattering phantom body parts everywhere. Goten alternated between the two, depending on what he felt like at the moment and Bob just ate them.

Having to continuously walk outside her pentagram to protect her, Kallen constantly got in the way as they fought. She didn't even notice that she constantly came close to death because she simply wasn't paying attention to what was going on around her. When she stepped outside the pentagram and began to chant the words, the saiya-jin fell back and merely watched. When it began to glow with a fierce yellow light, everyone turned away but the spirits screamed in pain as they were sucked back into their world.

Slowly the rift began to close as the light began to die off. In a moment's time nothing remained of the spirits, or the rift, or of Hell. That was when the pentagram vanished, as if it sank into the stone, and Kallen collapsed to her knees.

"That went better than I thought," she said with droopy eyes. "Mother will be so proud of me."

"Are you okay?" Goten asked in a concerned tone of voice.

"I'm fine. It's just that magic drains your strength every time you use it but huge spells like that basically knock you out. I just need someone to carry me and I'll be just fine...." Then she lay down on the floor and fell instantly asleep.

They all chuckled slightly as Goten bent down and picked her up. Shouts were then heard outside of the temple and all three hurried to see what was going on.

"He didn't trick us!" Taura cheered as he hugged his friend. "You're back to normal and the springs aren't killing living things any more. I threw a leaf in the water and nothing happened."

The three saiya-jin halted at the foot of the stairs and just stared at the other two. Goku, who recovered the use of his speech first, began to speak rapidly about what he had seen in Hell.

"I thought you guys wouldn't make it! That meeting with Lucifer went well, then." He clasped hands briefly with Taura and then with Jas.

"I want to thank you for helping us," Jas said with a smile. All traces of his former gruffness were gone. "It meant a lot to me."

"No problem," Vegeta said. "I would have wanted someone to do the same for me."

"What happened to Kallen there? Is she hurt?"

"Not at all," Goten unconsciously held her closer, "she closed the rift and fell asleep. I think she'll be out for a while."

"So these are the springs!" Vegeta dug in each pocket for the vials he had put there. Luckily the heat from Hell didn't melt the glass. Not so luckily he couldn't read a word on them.

"Goten, can you wake up Kallen so she can tell us what each one means? I'm sure no one here can read this."

"Kally? Can you wake up for a minute? This is *really* important..." The woman yawned hugely and blinked rapidly at Goten.

"Wow. Never seen you at this angle. What's up?"

"Kally, we need you to do something for us. Tell us what vial to use for each spring. Please."

"Kally... No one has called me that for a long time. I kinda like it." She hopped down from Goten's arms, took the set of vials from Vegeta, and began to place them before the springs that they belonged to. "Knowledge, Power, Immortality, Wisdom, Creativity, Luck, and Love. There you have it. Now, can I get some sleep here? Old people like me can't do much magic without feeling exhausted."

Goten shook his head with a smile. "It's true that majority of us are younger than you are, but tousan isn't. How old do you think he is?"

She scrutinized Goku's face and took a wild guess. "Well you're still pretty young, Goten, so I'll say he's around his mid-forties."

"You have to factor in how old Gohan is, remember? He's thirty-two. If Tousan is forty-five he would have had to be thirteen when Gohan was born."

"Oh right. Um, then he's fifty? He looks twenty-five though. I guess it's a weird saiya-jin genetic thing. He sure doesn't look old enough to be *my* father."

"Thanks!" Goku grinned. "I get that a lot. Actually I'm not the oldest." His voice dropped down to a conspiratorial whisper. "Both Bulma and Vegeta are older than I am but don't tell them that I said anything okay?"

She winked. "Sure."

In ten minutes' time they had gathered the water and were flying through the air towards the ship. Goten was once again holding Kallen and Vegeta rolled his eyes at the closeness they obviously shared. Goten noticed this and broke out into a huge grin.

"You're just mad because your girl dumped you."

"I told you Goten! *I* broke up with *her*!"

"Sure you did. Marron'll say something completely different though."

"I don't care! I'm telling the truth!" Vegeta shouted this as loud as he could and Goten shushed him immediately.

"Kally's sleeping bakayaro. Don't wake her up."

"She said she was too old for you, remember?"

"Ten years is not old. When she drinks from the Spring of Immortality that won't matter anymore." 

"I'm going to get another Daughter-in-law!" Goku cheered. "A really great one too!"

"Yeah she's okay," Vegeta admitted reluctantly. "At least Kallen can fight." He landed on the hot sand next to the ship and dropped the still afraid Taura gently onto his feet. "You see there? I didn't drop you. If you have saiya-jin blood you need to learn how to fly."

"Uh sure," he breathed deeply. "I'll think about it."

"Guess what guys!" Vegeta grinned suddenly. "If we leave now and use the hyperdrive constantly then we can make it home before Christmas Day is over. Do you want to whitness the greatest Chikyuu-jin holiday?"

"Sure!" Taura said with excitement. "The way you guys told it sounded great. What about you, Jas? Would you care if we started for home a few days late?"

"I need a little joy. Besides, I would like to see the planet they have worked so hard to save over the years. I think it would be beautiful."

"It's settled then! We're gonna be home in three days and I get to open lots and lots of presents!" He grinned at the mere thought of new expensive items. "Isn't life great?"

"Isn't Christmas a holiday for giving and sharing the joy of life?" Jas asked in confusion.

Vegeta cocked his head to the side, not hearing a word of it. "That's what I said. Lots and lots of presents."

Jas shook his head with a smile. "Nevermind."

"I'll be home for Christmas," Vegeta began to sing at the top of his voice and with all of the wrong notes. "You can plan on me."

Goten joined in and his voice was much, much better. "Please have snow and mistletoe. And presents on the tree."

All three saiya-jins began to sing, Goten and Goku's good voices attempting to drown out Vegeta's bad one. The annoyed demi-saiya-jin covered Goku's mouth and tried to do the same to Goten, but he almost got bitten. Finally Vegeta gave up and fell silent, leaving the other two to complete the song.

"I'll be home for Christmas. If only in my dreams."


	19. Book Two: Quest for Agalar - Yule Eve Ball

**Saturday, December 24th**   
  


"You are not to touch any of these decorations! Don't even go in there!" Bulma informed everyone in the main hall early Christmas Eve. "Not the kids, not the adults, NO ONE. I want everything to be perfect for our first royal function."

Jakina, feeling a little overwhelmed, rose her hand into the air. Bra hid her snickers behind her hand until her little sister was called on.

"Hai, Jackie-chan?"

"What if there's this horrendous fire and I left something very, very, *very* important in the ballroom?"

"Iie."

"What if someone is trapped in there?"

"Iie."

"Wait a minute, let me get this straight," A crease appeared between Bra's brows. "You'd rather let someone die than to let the room get out of order? If the palace burns down then the ballroom's gonna burn too!"

"We don't try to understand Kaasan's logic," Trunks said to her. "We just accept it."

She shrugged and grabbed Trunks' arm. "Whatever. Niichan? Are you gonna drive me to the mall?"

The look he gave her was just short of amusement. "Why would I do that? You have feet."

"KAASAN! Trunks is being really mean to me!" Bra wailed and began to cry on the spot. "Make him take me!" At the sight of a discreet wink, Pan and Jakina began to cry as well. Everyone in the hall covered their ears and most of them fled. Vegeta covered Bra and Jakina's mouths and glared at Pan. All three of them shut up instantly.

"You three are acting like spoiled brats." He told them sternly. "Trunks, your sisters both have last-minute fittings at that stupid boutique their dresses are coming from. Pan still needs to purchase one. You, Mia, and Magori can get them the hell out the house so the onna will stop freaking out and I will have to stay here, bored. Kakarotto should be back late this evening so stop by the dry cleaner's and pick up his uniform." He dug into a pocket and handed him a piece of paper. "This is a grocery list. We're all out of these things. Go get them."

"But this'll take us all day!" Trunks whined.

His father smirked. "That's why you're leaving now. The time is now eight twenty-five. Be back here no later than six o'clock. The ball is to start promptly at eight and you do not want to experience the wrath of Bulma if you walk in any time after that. I'm doing you a favor by getting you out of here. You should be grateful."

"Sure Papa," he sighed while running a hand through his hair. "Well, there goes my day." The king walked away towards the throne room and his study. Once again he was going use work to hide himself from his wife.

"I don't like this any more than you do," Mia said to him. "But you don't see me complaining."

"I don't wanna buy a dress!" Pan wailed. "How come I can't wear my new overalls?"

"It's a formal dance, baka." Bra rolled her eyes. "If you show up in pants Kaasan will probably kill you. You should see that thing she's forcing me to wear. It's so stiff I can barely sit down in it. Believe me, I've tried many times."

The very discontented group (except maybe Magori) headed off towards the parking garage and a very eventful day in Satan City.

***

"What about this one?" Jakina asked while holding up a yellow and white dress in Pan's size. She tilted her head slightly and frowned.

"Nope. Too white." It was placed back on the rack and the three girls moved on.

"What about this one?" Bra picked out a navy blue one with with white flowers.

"It has flowers on it."

"Yeah? So?"

"I don't want flowers on my clothes!"

"ARGH!" Bra screamed in frustration as she put it back on the rack. "Look Panny-chan, you're my best-friend but I'm this close," she held up to fingers to illustrate, "to strangling you."

"Here it is!" Pan gasped as she held up a deep red silk Chinese-style dress with tiny gold dragons on it. "Wait a minute..." She looked at the size. "It's too small! Bra! Jackie! Do you see a twelve anywhere?"

"Twelve, twelve," Bra muttered. "Seven, eight, eight, sixteen. Nope."

"The one I *do* like they don't have in my size!" She rapidly flipped through the dresses on the rack. "How about a fourteen? It's too big but it's better than nothin'."

"I have a ten. Can you squeeze into that?" Jakina handed it to her and pointed over to the fitting room.

"I'll try."

Mia, Trunks, and Magori made their way over to the girl's department to check on Pan. Saying the older two were annoyed was an understatement. Both Mia and Magori had decided on and purchased their clothes in less than ten minutes. Pan was taking close to half-an-hour.

"She still isn't done," Mia said with a sigh.

"It's okay now. She found something and is currently trying to squeeze into it because it's not in her size. Once she's finished we can move on to a shoe store." Bra wasn't exactly looking forward to that. Pan took forever in choosing footwear as well. Almost as long as clothes. All of them needed new dress shoes though so she wouldn't be the only one undecided. Pan emerged from the fitting room in less than a minute and posed for everyone.

"So, what do you think?" she asked. It did look nice, not too tight after all. She darted back into the dressing room to change back into her regular clothes and there was a collective sigh of relief.

"Bra, do you have, well, a bra to wear?" Mia snickered a little as she said it but she was serious.

"Nope. Kaasan never took me shopping. You know she's obsessed with her projects."

"You guys are just going to have to go ahead." She handed her bag to Trunks and took a large sum of money from his wallet. "We have a mission."

"Why can't I just wear a undershirt?"

"Because you can't now come on!" Mia dragged her off to the lingerie department and everyone else left the store.

"She was my aide," Pan sighed. "Now who am I going to get to help me?"

"Ahem," the smaller dark-haired girl cleared her throat. "Are you ignoring what I did? I found your dress!"

"Of course not, Jackie-chan. You're my friend too."

"Pan-chan, *please* for the love of Kami pick out a pair of shoes within ten minutes." Trunks pleaded with her. "I'm tired and I want to go home."

"We still have to go to the grocery store and Mia can drive now remember?" Pan jumped up onto his back and grabbed him around the neck. "C'mon, Trunks-chan. Don't be that way. I hardly ever see you anymore because you're always workin'."

"I'm trying to escape the madness that is my home," he grinned slightly. "And the madness of the media. I wonder why they aren't stalking us right now."

"It's after nine. Most reporters aren't really awake now and besides, we didn't tell anyone or attract any unnecessary attention."

"It's also Christmas Eve," Magori observed. "There are so many people around."

The Satan City Mall had three floors and over two-hundred different stores though a lot of them were identical in what they sold. The store they had just left was a department store and now it was off to one of the twelve different shoe places. Knowing Bulma's reaction it would have to be an expensive, quality one.

"That dress was pretty long, Pan-chan. You're going to need heels on your shoes." Trunks stopped by the window of the first shoe store. "Can you even walk in heels?"

"I have no idea. I never wore them before."

He sighed and ran his hand through his hair once again. "Come on then. I'll try to help you but if you haven't noticed I'm not a girl."

The Shoe Source was packed with last-minute shoppers and their small group had to fight their way to the girl's three section. Trunks sat down on a bench to wait and Magori just looked around at everyone with a look of wonder on his face.

"Are all these people here to buy Christmas presents?" he asked Trunks.

"Most of them. Some people wait until the Christmas Eve sales because they're cheap." He grinned. "I bought my presents last week."

"These are nice, Pan-chan," Jakina held up a pair of black semi-dressy shoes with a two-inch clunky heel. Trunks immediately shook his head.

"Those are too casual. Get something with a slimmer heel on it."

"But I can walk in these!" Her eyes narrowed and she pointed at him accusingly. "You just want to see me fall on my face."

"While that would be extremely amusing, I don't want that. I'm trying to save you from being yelled at by Kaasan and ChiChi."

"I'm getting them and you are going to pay for them." She said firmly. "Or I will throw a temper tantrum in front of all of these people."

"Fine, Pan-chan." Trunks could feel a headache coming on. "I'm going to get my shoes and Magori's and I'll meet you two at the cash register. Don't buy anything besides shoes."

"You're rich. Does it matter?"

"I mean it!"

"Fine, geez. You get crabby without Goten-ojichan around." Her commented made Trunks blink in surprise.

"I do?"

"You do," Jakina nodded. "I never really thought about it before now though."

With a frown on his face, Trunks wandered off to the men's section with Magori in tow.

***

"This is extremely embarrasing!" Bra blushed. "Can't you just let me figure it out?"

"Only five more minutes," Mia muttered. "Just think of me as your big sister."

"This still would be embarrasing."

Mia smiled suddenly at a funny memory and decided to share it with Bra. "When I was twelve Kaasan took me to the store to buy bras. You know how she acts, though, so a lot of bad stuff happened."

Bra's face lit up and she was successfully distracted from what was going on in the fitting room. "What happened?"

"Well first no one couldn't decide on the right size. Kaasan kept claiming it was twenty-eight and the saleslady kept arguing thirty. I agreed with the saleslady since the twenty-eight was too tight but you know you can't tell Kaasan anything. It was fifteen long minutes of arguing over underwear with bras flying all over the place and it just about came to blows when I took Kaasan's credit card, bought my bras, and left the store. Ten minutes later they realized I was gone and that their argument was stupid. By that time I was halfway home. Hard to believe that was only four years ago."

By the end of her story Mia had decided on a size and left to have Bra change. It took them very little time to pick out some and track down everyone else's kis and rejoin the group. Trunks, looking almost exactly like his father, was slowly massaging his temples because Pan had decided that she didn't want those shoes after all. The time was now nine forty-five.

"Bra, Jackie just go get your dresses from the boutique and I'll meet you down there with Pan. If I haven't killed her by then."

"Oh ha, ha," the little girl said sarcastically. "Very amusing, Trunks. You know I can kick your ass any day of the week."

"Pan, language." Mia repremanded.

"Gomen, Mia-obasan."

"Can we get something to eat before we leave here?" Magori asked. "I'm a little hungry."

As if on cue, Pan's stomach let out a loud rumble. She blushed slightly and continued to look among the shelves. "I guess I'm hungry too."

"You have that infamous Son stomach. I'm surprised that the people in Britain didn't hear that."

"Papa's stomach doesn't do this."

"Your papa's an odd person."

Soon (if you can call fifteen minutes soon) they were all once again making their way down the mall, this time towards the food court. Each person in the group had a bag but Pan, Mia, and Bra all had two each. Once among the crowds of hungry shoppers, they split up for seperate restaurants.

"Someone is going to have to secure a table and guard our stuff. I don't know about you guys but I can't carry a tray *and* two bags." Pan told the other kids. All exchanged glances and then pointed at Bra.

"Go ahead Bra-chan," Magori smiled. "Find us a large table and we'll be back soon."

"I can't believe you of all people would do this to me," she pouted while taking their stuff. "I thought you were the nice one, Magori."

"Looks can be deceiving Bra so just go on over there and sit down." Bra stuck her tongue out at them and did so. She watched hungrily as people came and went with their meals. Bra was so into watching for any signs of her friends and family that she was started when someone sat down across from her.

"Not you again," she groaned. It was the same boy from the hallway five days ago. He blinked at her with brown eyes that were magnified at least three times their actual size by the lenses of his glasses. She drummed her fingers on the table idly and waited for him to speak.

"Bra-hime I come to you with a problem." She remained silent for a short time until she realized that he wasn't going to say anything else.

"And I'm supposed to be able to help you how?"

"I want you to teach me to be like you are. Confident, popular, and most of all good enoguh to look at."

"Uh," she was at a loss for words, "Uh..."

With eyes wet with tears he leaned across the table to grasp her hands in his. "I'm begging you Bra-hime! Please help me!"

"Does my little sister have a boyfriend?" Trunks asked with a huge smile on his face. Bra groaned a second time and pulled her hands from the boy's.

"It's not like that, Trunks. This is, er, er..."

"Yonai, Taisho Yonai."

"This is Taisho. He needs my help and I'm bound by section three, article five to assist him in any way that I feel necessary."

"What section? Where the hell is that written down?"

"It's not written yet, retard. It's on the computer though. I suggested to Papa that he rewrite his laws and Jackie-chan suggested that he change his government."

"Are you sure you can say this with me around?" Taisho asked with a panicked expression on his face.

"You'll probably read it anyway so it doesn't matter." She motioned him to follow her away from the noise of the crowds and spoke quietly to him.

"I can help you but it's going to be hard work."

"I can do it!" He said confidentally. "I'm good at hard work."

Nodding she continued. "First you need a formal black suit. It's for tonight."

"What's going on tonight?"

"The first annual Yule Eve Ball. My kaasan came up with the idea." She smiled slightly. "My papa opposed it. He's not very social. We're here at the mall because my neechan and I have to get our dresses and a whole lot of other stuff. If you come over to my house around six-thirty with your clothes I can help you out."

"I can come over to *your* house?" His voice rose an note with each word until it was at a high-pitched squeak. "Your *huge* house?"

"Of course you can! Just tell whoever answers the intercom at the gates that you're my guest. Hopefully papa won't be the one to answer you."

"Domo arigatou, Bra-hime!" He hugged her in his excitement. "You're a better person than I ever imagined!"

"Aw, geez." She blushed. "I'm not that great."

After a few minutes more of talking she got her meal and made her way back to the table. As she took her seat everyone was grinning at her. Trunks obviously said something about Taisho.

"Nothing happened, okay? He's not my boyfriend. I don't even have a boyfriend!"

Even though they all nodded, no one believed a word that came out of her mouth. Sighing to herself she remained silent and miraculously they let it lie.

***

"That's crooked!" Bulma shouted to ChiChi and Videl who were attempting to hand a banner over the doorway to the ballroom. "Tilt it up a little on the right."

"Bulma, the caterers are on the phone now to confirm. You want them in the kitchen at no later than six?" Gohan asked her. He had taken the entire day off to help out since there was a shortage of people. Vegeta was in his study doing Kami knows what and the other three saiya-jin were still in space. No one had heard from them in over a week. Bulma was sort of worried because Goten tended to call very frequently but the ball was preoccupying her mind. By four o'clock things were finally beginning to come together. The floor was shining brightly, the thrones had been moved into the ballroom, the banner was straight, and the merry green and red decorations were everywhere. Bulma shooed everyone from the room (so that the floors wouldn't get scuffed) and collapsed into a chair in the main hall.

"What else do we need to do?" ChiChi asked her.

"I need to find Vegeta and make him take a shower. If I wait it'll be five before he does anything. If the kids get back and I'm not down here tell them to get dressed and meet me in the family room."

"What do you want Goku to do when he gets back?"

"Can he greet people at the door and check their coats? Son-kun is the best at dealing with people. Gohan call the quartet and confirm. If something comes up make sure you have the stereo and lots of CDs in there. I want this to be formal but it probably won't end up that way."

"We're back!" Bra called out loudly as she opened the door. After several trips everything was piled in the main hall. While Magori, Mia, and Pan began to carry the food into the kitchen Bra approached her mother with one of her bags.

"Look at what I have, Kaasan." She said with a slightly smile.

Bulma, beyond busy, sort of glanced over at her and continued to attempt to draw a floor plan. "Can it wait, Bra-chan?"

"Sure it can," she sighed, already set on finding her father instead. Besides the fact that she wanted to tell at least one of her parents, the laws really did need going over. Quickly retrieving her other bag and her dress she went upstairs to lay them out on her bed for the ball that night. It would be best to stay out of her mother's way.

***

"If you change this around it'll be clearer. 'All citizens have the right to believe what they want to believe, say what they feel, and do whatever it is that makes them happy. No one can take away that right without legal consequences.' " Bra typed that in and turned to her father.

"It'll have to be changed slightly. If stealing from someone else makes them happy then they can't do that." Vegeta frowned. "How about this: You have the right to freedom of speech, freedom from oppression, freedom of the press, fredom of assembly, freedom of choice, and freedom of ownership as long as it doesn't interfere with someone else's rights."

"Freedom of choice? Up until now everything we came up with was like the United States' first amendment. But what's 'freedom of choice'?"

"It's the freedom to make your own decisions in matters that concern you. Unless you make a decision that's potentially harmful to you, the authorities and your parents will not be able to interfere." He sighed as he typed it up. "I wish it had been that way on Vegeta-sei."

The grandfather clock in the corner chimed five times. Bra walked to the door so that she would be able to get dressed.

"I'm glad you took time to do this with me," she smiled at him. "Kaasan's so busy and everything. I love you, Papa."

Vegeta merely nodded and turned back to the computer but Bra could see the reflection of his smile on the screen. Ten minutes later Jakina, already dressed, ventured into her father's study where he was muttering over another law. Taking the vacated seat next to him, she waited for her father to say something.

"Do you want to work on the government? I have a list of people who I think are perfect for your advisors."

"Sure," he said, smiling slightly. "Why not?"

"Goku-san should be sort of like a vice-king. Since you've known him for a while you probably know what to expect from him. I know he's going to be the leader of your army anyway so it should work out well. Didn't he also make himself the Secretary of Public Safety?"

"This is not a democracy, Jackie-chan. He would be appropriately titled Minister of Public Safety. Even though some of these laws and some of the government structure is based on democracy I am a king, not a president."

"I see. Minister of Public Safety then. Who will be your other ministers? I think they should be from other countries."

"Then they would be called ambassadors, not ministers. Since a minister would be one of my most trusted advisors then they should be people I know personally."

"How about Gohan-san and ChiChi-san?"

"Well now we have a Minister of Science but Kakarotto's insane mate can't do anything."

Jakina grinned as she thought of a great position for ChiChi. "How about Minister of Education?"

Vegeta remembered all of those times ChiChi used to freak out when Gohan didn't study and smiled. "Perfect."

***

"This is my younger sister, Jakina, my eldest brother, Trunks, and my best-friend, Pan. My other brother, Vegeta Junior, isn't in town at the moment. He's doing something for my father."

Taisho nodded and smoothed down his suit for the tenth time. "I see. I want to thank you-"

"Hold it right there." Bra smiled. "You've thanked me enough times already. Just go find a nice girl and be yourself for kami's sake!"

"Where is Son-kun?" Bulma asked anyone within hearing distance. "He called earlier and said he would be here by seven-thirty! It's now seven thirty-eight and he's a no show!"

"Calm down Kaasan before you give youself a heart attack." Bra led her almost forcefully over to a chair and pushed her down into it. "Goku-san may be a little late but he'll be here. Eventually."

"Can I help in anyway, Briefs-san?" Taisho asked her.

Bulma smiled and shook her head. He had already helped with everything imaginable up to this point. "Not this time, Taisho. Unless you have a spaceship that can get you across the universe in less than ten minutes?"

"Oh no Briefs-san!" He said, eyes wide. "No one has a ship that fast!"

"Don't be so sure about that." Vegeta decided to make an appearance for the first time in hours. No one besides Bra and Jakina had seen him since that morning. Taisho jumped at the sudden voice behind him and quickly turned around.

"Your majesty!" He bowed low and Vegeta just about glowed in pleasure. At Bulma's glare, though, he quickly told him to stand back up again.

"You don't have to call me that." Bulma got up and left the room to check on a few things and he quickly changed his words. "I demand that you bow and address me as either 'sire' or 'your majesty' at all times."

"Hai, your majesty."

Bra rolled her eyes at her father. "Don't listen to him, Taisho. You can just call him Vegeta-san."

"Okay, Bra-hime." She groaned.

"Lesson number three: Do not call me Bra-hime."

He nodded. "Hai, Bra-hi-," he cut himself off at her glare. "Bra."

"Good." She nodded. "We're finally getting somewhere."

Eight o'clock came very quickly to the very busy Bulma. The string quartet was set up, the food was laid out, and everyone was present and dressed. Everyone except for Goku that is. The position that had been assigned to him was still empty so the kids filled in.

"Goku-ojiichan is going to get it," Pan grumbled underneath her breath as she took another lady's fir. "He owes us big."

'I'm here!" Goku's voice bellowed through the main hall. He rushed to his place by the door from the staircase and immediately noticed that several small children were glaring at him. One hand behind his hand, he chuckled slightly.

"Oops?"

" 'Oops' is not the word," Bra handed him the book that listed who was the owner of what piece of outerwear. "We're out of here."

"Save me some food!" At their frowns he added, "Please?"

Pan, feeling sorry for him, agreed. "Sure, Goku-ojiichan. It'll be in the kitchen."

"Domo arigatou, Panny-chan!" He began to hum as he worked, trying not to be bored. Bulma had said that people would probably only straggle in up until nine. His good mood was shattered by the arrival of the Lord of Shadows.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Goku glared at him. He didn't want to fight anyone, not on Christmas Eve.

The dark-haired man smirked and handed Goku his black cape. "I'm here to have a good time just like all the rest of these people. It was said that anyone could come."

"Damn that public invitation," Goku muttered. "Go ahead but if you cause any trouble you'll know where you'll be."

"I'm sure you would officially throw me onto the street." He nodded his head slightly at Goku. "You have my word that nothing will happen."

"We'll see." He said aloud before contacting Vegeta. _"Now don't get angry Vegeta, but the Lord of Shadows is on his way inside."_

He felt Vegeta's mind, which had been very sluggish up this point, snap to attention. _"This isn't a very cruel joke, is it?"_

_"Would I joke about something like this knowing how much you despise him and wish that something awful would happen to him?"_

_"You're serious."_ He paused briefly. _"You've warned him about what would happen if he starts something?"_

_"I didn't need to."_

_"Good. At least we're all on the same page. Contact me again if something else comes up."_

Amused at his words, he agreed. _"Sure thing, Veggie. Over and out."_

 _"Very funny."_ And the connection was severed. Krillin, Juuhachi-gou, and Marron decided to enter then and of course he had to visit with them before sending them inside. His mood officially good again, the Lord of Shadows was forgotten. For now.

***

"Do you find this as boring as I do?" Mia asked as Trunks as she yawned. She had been keeping him company as he sat on his throne for thirty minutes so far. The dance was as formal as Bulma required it to be but unfortunately that meant it needed to be mind-numbingly boring. Bulma herself was chatting with all of the guests one-by-one and Vegeta was struggling to stay awake in his throne.

"Of course I do," He frowned. "I don't even have Goten here to help me play pranks on someone."

"How old are you again?" She grinned. "Why have you been talking about Goten so much? You miss him?"

"Of course I do!" He said that a little louder than he intended. Lowering his voice he continued. "If you best-friend was half-way across the universe you would miss them too. Besides, I wanted to go!"

"Trunks-chan!" Pan called as she slowly made her way over to him. She wasn't quite used to her shoes yet. "You wanna dance?"

"With you?" His eyebrow rose. "And to this song? I can't waltz, you know."

"The onna should have added dancing lessons to her list," Vegeta muttered. He stood and walked past Trunks, heading straight for one of the hors d'oeuvre trays. The little crackers wouldn't fill him up but at least it gave him something to do. Besides, his butt had been falling asleep from sitting too long.

Goku entered the ballroom and immediately found a tray and took the entire thing for himself. It was only a slight snack, though, so soon he was looking around for something to do. ChiChi spotted him from where she was talking to Juuhachi-gou so she made her way over.

"Goku-sa, do you want to dance?"

"Um," he looked around. It seemed safe since no one was looking at them. "I don't know how but I can try." As she led him into the crowd of people, Bra and Taisho came by.

"Look, it's easy." She said as she faced him. "Put your hands on my waist."

Eyes wide he asked, "I can do that Bra?"

"Just put your hands on my waist. I put my hands on your shoulders." She did so but it was awkward since she was taller. "Okay now you just move to the music." He did so but he was completely off beat. Bra sighed and stopped him. "Follow my lead."

"Can these guys play anything other than classical music?" Pan asked Jakina. The younger girl shrugged and they both walked over to the musicians just as they ended another song. "Do you know anything upbeat and modern?" She asked.

"We know Celebration." One man said helpfully.

"Um, no. That's okay. Then you are officially dismissed. I'll have Bulma-san pay you the amount that she promised you."

All four bowed and began to pack up their instruments. Pan lead her friend through the back exit and up the back stairs. They were going to gather a collection of CDs that would really get the party started. Guaranteed.

Back in the ballroom Vegeta was currently stuffing his face with Goku along side of him. Neither knew who started the competition exactly but neither Goku or Vegeta would back down from a challenge. Soon the buffet table was down to just crumbs and both saiya-jin eyed the last piece of strawberry cheesecake.

"It's mine Kakarotto!" Vegeta growled. "I'm your king!"

"But I'm still hungry!" Goku whined convicingly and held his stomach. "How can I protect you and your kids if I'm hungry?"

"That won't work." He was firm about that.

"Uh oh! Bulma's coming over here and she doesn't look too happy..."

"Shit!" Vegeta cursed and turned around. Goku's hand shot out and in five seconds that piece of cake was gone. Of course Bulma was still across the room chatting. She hadn't even noticed that all the food had vanished into the bottomless pits saiya-jin called stomachs. The caterers were coming out with more already. They had been warned beforehand.

"I won, Veggie. You owe me." Goku grinned and walked away. Vegeta was left silently fuming.

The two girls came back into the ballroom a few minutes later with bags full of CDs that they had taken from Trunks' room, VJ's room, Mia's room, Bra's room, and their rooms. Going over to the huge stereo system that had been set up earlier, they began to argue over what CD to play first.

"These solve all our problems," Pan grinned as she opened the case to 'Dance Hits, Volume One'. Of course there was also a Volume Two, a Volume Three, and a Volume Four. She popped all four discs into the changer and went searching for six more. Afer choosing (and making sure at least one CD had Christmas songs) and pusing it closed she turned the volume up to max and made sure 'random song' was selected. "Let's party!"

There was stunned silence for a moment as Ricky Martin's "Livin' La Vida Loca" blared out of the very large speakers. All of the people under thirty cheered and began to move to the beat. The middle-age and older folks just looked blankly at the stereo system. Vegeta watched the older ones with a smirk on his face. It was amusing to say the least.

Bulma, who had been having a pleasant conversation with a former country leader, looked up and frowned in annoyance. Although she knew that somehow her party was going to be ruined, she didn't expect it so soon. She watched the older people wander from the dance floor and saw the younger ones having a good time. Then she shrugged.

"Can you excuse me?" she said to the man. "I want to go ask someone for a dance."

The older man looked over to where Vegeta stood at the very edge everyone and smiled. "Go ahead, your majesty. I don't mind. He looks a little lonely anyway."

"Domo arigatou, Hansnir-san. I'll continue our conversation a little later. I'm very interested in hearing about your skills and accomplishments." After one last nod, she made her way across the room to where her mate stood. He glanced at her briefly and resumed watching the people on the dance floor.

"Before you ask, Bulma, I don't dance."

"Aw come on! It's fun."

He turned to look at her fully. "I'm saving myself the embarrassment by not participating in this. What would these people think if their king is making an ass of himself on the dance floor?"

"He knows how to have fun?" she asked mildly. "Look, Vegeta, I'm asking you to perform brain surgery here. All I want you to do is dance with me."

"If you don't mind, I'll take the surgery." Then he sighed and took her hand. "Come on then, onna. You can teach me."

"The name's Bulma."

"Whatever." By this time the music had changed to something even faster than the Ricky Martin's song. Of course it was the remix version. Nearly five minutes of dance instruction torture. Eventually he got the hang of moving to the music and was actually having fun. Sort of. He wouldn't admit it if asked though.

The party wound down around one in the morning. All of the kids except Bra and Pan were asleep on their feet. The two girls were still shakin' their bootays to the music and had to be forced into bed. Six frappuccinos and an entire carton of coffee almond fudge ice cream will do that to person.

"From this day forward," Bulma yawned. "I'm banning caffeine from the palace."

"Nani? Iie!" Gohan cried in shock at her words. "How the hell am I supposed to wake up in the morning?!"

"Gohan, language." ChiChi reprimanded automatically.

"Gomen nasai, Kaasan." he replied just as quickly.

"Gohan-sa we can always just keep a cappuccino machine in our room. That way the kids can't get their hands any more caffeine."

"Good idea Videl!" He said this brightly as the entire group of then ascended the stairs. "Well I'm going straight to bed and get as much sleep as I can. Tomorrow the kids are going to drive us all insane."

"You mean later today," They were the only ones besides Bulma and Vegeta to continue down the richly carpeted hall. Goku and ChiChi's room was on the third floor with Trunks', Goten's, and Vegeta Jr.'s. The two bid goodnight to the king and queen and Videl pointed to the digital clock with it's glowing numbers that sat on the nighstand. "Merry Christmas, Gohan-sa."

"Merry Christmas, Videl."


	20. Book Two: Quest for Agalar - I'll Be Home for Christmas

**Sunday, December 25th**   
  


"BRA! Guess what day it is!" Jakina took a dive onto her sister's queen size bed and landed heavily on top of the drowsy girl.

"It's Christmas, right?" Bra asked in a false awed tone. Jakina hit her with a pillow and ran from the room shouting in her glee. As soon as she was gone her sister rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. Her head hurt from all the caffeine from yesterday. She wondered how Pan was feeling.

"PANNY-CHAN! Guess what day it is!" She had run through the bathroom that connected Bra and Pan's room. The other girl was already waiting for her, still dressed in her pajamas.

"I know! Let's go downstairs! I wanna open my presents!" Pan, perfectly fine, grabbed her hand and they both ran down the hall towards the staircase singing at the tops of their voices.

"On the first day of Christmas my truelove gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree! On the second day of Christmas..."

"Oh thanks a lot!" Trunks was coming down the stairs from the third floor with an irritated look on his face. "Who said I wanted to be woken up at SIX AM?!"

"Quit whining about it!" Bra said as she came down the hallway. "You *are* crabby without Goten around!"

The tips of his ears turned a bright red color and he began to shout. "WILL YOU GUYS STOP SAYING THAT?!"

"Is Magori already down there?" Mia yawned. Her bedroom was further down the hall on the second floor. "He's not in his room."

"Probably." Jakina jumped on the banister and began to slide down. "I mean, I would have been if Trunks here hadn't started yelling."

"Get your butt off my banister!" The small girl jumped off immediately but her mother was no where to be found.

"Am I hearing things or did Mama really say that?"

"She's Kaasan." Bra shrugged as she began to descend the stairs. "She always knows when something's wrong."

Magori was indeed in the family room when they got there and he was just staring at the three with wide eyes. "Santa Claus did come!"

Bra snorted but she didn't say anything to him. She did whisper behind her hand to Pan though. "More like Kaasan and Papa."

The two anxious girls had to wait until every single person was assembled in the family room by the tree. The adults all looked rather tired from the previous evening's festivities but soon Goku was just as excited as Pan and Jakina.

"Ooh! Open that one next!" He said as he spotted another large one with Pan's name on it. He handed it to her and still continued to rummage underneath the tree for his own presents. The ones for Goten and V.J. were placed in a special pile. After stopping a small struggle between Pan and Bra over a present that didn't have a tag (it was Bra's), Bulma went into the kitchen to start cooking breakfast. ChiChi was soon talked into taking over.

"Did you get everything you wanted, Pan-chan?" Videl asked as she let Moura play on the floor with her new doll.

"Not really," she sighed and began to stack up her new PlayStation 2 games. "I wish Goten-ojisan could be here. V.J. too."

Goku smiled to himself and continued helping Jakina set up her new Junior Chemisty Set. A few seconds later the doorbell rang.

"Why are we standing on the doorstep out here in the cold?" A voice asked someone else. "Did you forget your key again?"

"No!" The other voice retorted. "Hai...." Then the voice quickly tried to change the subject. "Look! It's starting to snow!"

"In Japan?!"

"Konichi-wa! Is someone gonna let us in or do we have to break the door down?"

Pan's face lit up and she ran to the front door. "Goten-ojiichan!" Unlocking it quickly and flinging it open she jumped into his arms almost before he had a chance to catch her.

"Well hello to you to, Panny-chan. Have you beaten up anyone lately?"

She laughed. "Nope. We all missed you a lot!"

As he, V.J., and their three guests crossed the threshold ChiChi shouted from the kitchen. "Did someone just come over? Who is it?"

"My, aren't we nosey," Vegeta muttered as he placed three different boxes of clothes into a pile. It wasn't as if he had a Christmas list.

"Kaasan! Tadaima!" Goten called as he placed his niece back on her feet. She grinned and skipped across the great hall to get Bulma and ChiChi.

"Aren't you going to greet him, Papa?" Bra asked as she released her niichan. With wide eyes she watched her father slowly cross the room until he stood before his second born son and namesake.

"Hi Papa," V.J. said and for once he wasn't grinning as if he were up to something. He extended his hand slightly. "Nice be back."

Surprsing them all, including ChiChi and Bulma who had been dragged from the kitchen by a very happy Pan, Vegeta grabbed Vegeta Jr. into a hug instead of merely shaking his hand.

"Very nice." Vegeta agreed. Then he quickly resumed his former grumpy appearance.

But the moment had not been lost.

***

"Now you two better now try and sneak off to get married," ChiChi told them firmly. "I want to be there for the wedding."

It was an hour later and everyone was sitting around the dining room table helping themselves to a delicious breakfast courtesy of ChiChi that Bulma didn't ruin.

"And she'll be the loudest one in the church!" Gohan laughed.

"Gohan-chan!" ChiChi scolded.

Meek as a child he apologized. "Sorry Kaasan."

"I don't want to have my wedding in a church," Goten said. "That's too traditional. A beach wedding would be great."

"Um, Goten?" Kallen finally spoke up. "I didn't even say that I would marry you. In fact, if I recall correctly, I said that I was too old for you."

"Ten years is not old!" He protested. "Besides, I don't know anyone your age. Everyone's either older or younger. What about nine years?" Trunks looked up with a confused look on his face. He had a feeling they were now talking about him. "My best-friend Trunks here would make a good husband."

"Now wait a minute, Goten-" But he was interrupted by his mother.

"That would be wonderful!" She exclaimed in glee, ignoring her son's protests. "I could plan the whole thing, from ceremony to reception to honeymoon!"

"You would plan the honeymoon?" Videl asked her. "Isn't that a little too involved?"

"Only the best for my eldest!"

"Geez Goten. Look what you started." Trunks muttered as he focused on eating to block out his mother's words. "I don't even want to get married." Of course Bulma heard that loud and clear.

"NANI?!" She shrieked and everyone covered their ears. She and ChiChi are definitely spending too much time together. The kids fled the table to go play with their new presents and everyone else just sort of snuck away. Only Trunks and Bulma were left.

"Do I have to sit here and listen to you?" He was annoyed to say the least. "Can't I just go injure Goten for bringing this up in the first place?"

"You will sit here, Trunks, and you will listen to what I have to say." She was firm about this. "You're just lucky I'm not your father."

***

"What's that fuzzy thing floating around your head?" Pan asked curiously. "It looks just like a huge dust bunny."

"This is Bob. He's a Keekle. I got him in space." Goten grinned. "Kally-chan bought him for me as a Christmas present."

"Kally-chan?" Bra raised an eyebrow. "Since when were you two that familiar?"

"That's what I'm saying!" V.J. exclaimed.

Goten's grin grew wider and he repeated something in a very mild tone. "You're just mad your girl dumped you."

"I TOLD YOU SHE DIDN'T DUMP ME!"

"Sure she didn't!" Goten, Pan, Bra, and Jakina said in a very disbeliving tone.

The doorbell rang suddenly, its melodious tone ringing throughout the house. Both Bra and Pan jumped to their feet and raced towards the door. Everyone in the family room could hear them speaking to someone and the door close tightly. Soon the new arrivals ventured into the living room.

"How convient!" Goten beamed in pleasure. "Let's ask her ourselves, shall we?"

"Did you break up with Vegeta, Marron? Or did he break up with you?" Bra asked in a curious tone. "We're having a little debate over that."

"Marron broke up with him," Trunks said dryly as he entered the room. He glared at Goten until the other demi-saiya-jin shrugged apolegetically. "She broke my little brother's heart."

The blond girl laid her coat on the couch and took a seat. "I admit that I was the one who ended the relationship but I didn't break his heart. I don't think it affected him all that much. Do you have another girlfriend, V.J.?"

"Iie, I don't." He then frowned. "Don't think I'm depressed or anything 'cause I'm not. You broke up with Trunks and he still doesn't have another girlfriend."

"I'm just waiting for the right one, okay!" He said loudly, making sure everyone heard him.

Vegeta senior spoke up. "Maybe he's just not interested in girls."

Eyes narrowed, his son questioned him. "What are you implying?"

His father, definitely not tactful, told him outright. "Maybe you're gay. I mean, it's not uncommon. Around seventy-five percent of the saiya-jin population was."

"Really?" he asked.

"There weren't a lot of saiya-jin females. I think it's a species quirk. The odds that a saiya-jin would have a female baby were quite low. Either one female would procreate with several males or the scientists created babies by artificial means. That was how we kept the race going after we acquired the technology. It would definitely explain a lot of things about you."

"What about you, Papa?" Jakina began in a completely innocent tone of voice. "Do you like males too? Aren't those people..." She trailed off, trying to think of the word.

"Bi-sexual, Jackie-chan."

She nodded. "Yeah, that."

"Why is everyone so quiet?" Bulma asked as she, Krillin, and Juuhachi-gou entered the room. "It's Christmas! I thought I would have to scream at you people to be quiet."

Everyone sort of turned to Vegeta for his answer. Bulma blinked in confusion but she eventually looked at him too.

"What's going on?" she asked. "Did Vegeta do something interesting?"

"Oh it's nothing important, really." Bra said in a false bored tone. "Jackie-chan just asked Papa if he was interested in guys. That's all."

Her mother stared at her as if she'd grown another head. "Nani?"

"It's no big deal, Onna." Vegeta smirked at her. "Jackie-chan just wants to know the truth. How else will she learn if she doesn't ask questions?"

"You're not supposed to ask your parents stuff like that!" Bulma exclaimed. "I wouldn't want someone asking me if I had smoked pot before."

"Have you?" Jakina was on cue with her question. Her mother flushed and turned away slightly.

"I'm not the one on trial here."

"Then you have!"

"No comment."

"To tell you the truth," Vegeta spoke so suddenly that everyone was a little startled. The whole group of them, five youngsters and thirteen adults, focused on Vegeta as if he were telling the meaning of life. Not the least bit self-conscious, he spoke without hesitation. "hai. I do sometimes." He shrugged. "If anything, completely straight males were abnormal on Vegeta-sei. I know I would be quite an oddity here. As if that wasn't already the truth."

"I would love to study your cells Vegeta," Bulma had that 'scientific find of the century' look in her eyes. "Especially your DNA. I would take some blood and other things from you to examine. Would you do it?"

"Why not?" he shrugged. "It's not a big deal."

"What about Goku-san?" Bra asked. "He's fully saiya-jin." And so everyone turned their eyes to him.

"Me?!" He squeaked in a very unGoku-like manner. "Taking blood involves needles! I hate needles!"

"Aren't you going to ask Goku the same question you asked Vegeta?" Krillin asked with a smirk. "This is the man who couldn't tell apart males and females you know."

"I grew up in a forest, Krillin." Goku blushed bright red. "I had just never seen a girl before, that's all."

"He completely didn't know what I was." Bulma laughed. "But seriously, Goku, do you like guys?"

Goku he tried to pretend he didn't hear her, he tried to change the subject, he tried everything to get out of answering. Finally, after noticed that ChiChi was frowning at him intensely, he answered.

"Well, uh, I g-guess so. Um, can I go now?"

"Be a man, Kakarotto," Vegeta smirked. "Stop stuttering like a child."

"But you're all staring at me!" He whined. "It makes me feel like I've done something wrong!"

"You? Goku? Do something wrong?" He said with with wide eyes in a awe filled voice. "How preposterous!"

"I would ask *who* you liked before," Trunks said to his father. "But that would be a little bit too weird."

"I don't even want to think about it," Vegeta glared at Goten one last time and left the room. "I'm getting something to drink."

Goten, Gohan, and Mia in the meantime were staring at their tousan in absolute shock. He fidgeted underneath their gaze and looked someplace else. Unfortunately that 'someplace else' was ChiChi's face.

"Why didn't you tell me before, Goku?" she asked with a frown.

"I know next-to-nothing about saiya-jin things, ChiChi. Vegeta's the expert on that stuff. How was I supposed to know that it was some weird genetic thing?"

"That's not why I'm mad and you know it! Now every time we go someplace public I'm going to look at a cute guy and wonder if my husband think he's cute too!"

Goku groaned. "Kami, Vegeta. You see what you brought up?"

"She's ChiChi," Vegeta said by way of explanation. "She's irrational."

Said woman glared at him. "I heard that you know."

He nodded. "I know."

"What are we going to do about Trunks?" Bulma changed the subject skillfully. "If he doesn't get a girlfriend soon then I won't have any grandchildren."

"Calm down, Onna. We have three other kids. V.J. is quite the girl chaser. If Trunks is gay it doesn't matter."

"Don't I have any say in this? It's like you're deciding this for me! I didn't say that I didn't want kids, I can always adopt."

"Leave the boy alone, Bulma. Let him do what he wants. He's a grown man."

Suddenly Jakina's eyes lit up and she grinned. "I know who he really likes! I know, I know!"

Her brother's eyes widened and he covered her mouth as quick as he could. "Do you really know?" She nodded. "Then whisper it to me." He slowly removed his hand and bent down to her level. She said something for several seconds and his face paled. "Don't tell anybody!"

"I won't." She promised. "Besides, it's not any of their business except the person you love."

Bra raised an eyebrow. "Is it...?"

"Yep."

"Thought so for a while." She whispered something to Pan and both girls giggled.

"Damn," Trunks said in embarrassment. "My life can't get-"

"Don't finish that statement," Kallen warned. "You'll regret it."

"What am I supposed to say then? My life can't get any better than this?!"

"A relationship might just work out," Bra mused. "I could arrange some things-"

"Iie."

"But it'll be easy!"

"And fun," Pan added.

"Iie!"

"I'm going to do this science thing right now to get it over with and then go train. Kakarotto, come on."

"Nani?" He blinked, his mind coming back to the present. "Oh sure."

"Trunks, we need to talk."

"What is it with my parents lately? They always want to talk to me."

After the three saiya-jins, Bulma, Videl, ChiChi, and Trunks left the room, V.J. returned and the three demi-saiyan-jins pounced on Bra, Jakina, and Pan. Of course they wanted to know all about Trunks and his secret love.

"If we guess it then you didn't do anything wrong." V.J. said in his usual sneaky way. "Does his love someone with saiya-jin blood?"

"We're not telling," Pan said firmly.

"I'll tell niichan all about your little boyfriend, Panny-chan." Mia whispered to her. "You know how he'll freak out..."

"I told you that in the strictest of confidence!" She glared at her briefly. "Alright, fine. Hai, his love does have saiya-jin blood. I'm not telling you how much."

"They have to be at least half, Pan-chan! You're the only quarter and there are only two full. I'm not even thinking about them."

"Male or female?" V.J. asked curiously.

"We're definitely not telling you that one."

"Male then," he decided. "That narrows it down to three people. Gohan, Goten, and Taura."

"Gohan is automatically ruled out because he's married."

"Yeah and he's my Papa!" Pan said. "That would too weird."

"Taura's ruled out because they just met in person today. So..." Everyone looked at Goten.

"Nani? Why are you all staring at me?"

"Goten, you and Trunks have been best-friends since you were toddlers. You're the logical choice."

"That doesn't mean a thing!" But he didn't look convinced. V.J. frowned at him.

"You know something, don't you. Trunks told you something and no one else."

"We did that sometimes, you know. We *are* friends." Goten rolled his eyes. "I like Kallen. I wanna marry Kallen."

Smiling sweetly, Vegeta spoke to him. "But Kallen doesn't want to marry you. Why not marry my niichan? You'll be happy together. It's not as if you don't already know everything about each other."

"Oh kami," Goten sighed. "What am I supposed to do?"

"Go talk to him. Papa should be finished by now. I think he was just nosey anyway."

"I have never been around people this strange before," Taura observed. "Especially since you're only two seperate families."

"This is definitely not the strangest thing to happen," Krillin told him. "They still surprise me and I've known Goku for over thirty years. Right now I'm going to watch them spar. It should be really interesting."

"I'll come too," Juuhachi-gou said as she followed. Marron hesitated for a moment and then spoke.

"Tell Trunks that I understand, okay? He didn't really seem like he was having fun on our dates anyway. V.J. I'll talk to you later." She left then, probably heading off to join her parents.

"Sounds ominous," Mia commented. "She's going to scream at you for lying."

"We have a big, huge, humongous problem on our hands." Jakina said in a worried tone. "You guys shouldn't have found out about niichan. He's gonna kill Pan."

"But they guessed it!" She said. "I didn't tell them anything and I didn't have to, Look." Pan crawled on her knees over to a nearby cabinet. Pulling a photo album from it, she started from the beginning and began to flip through. "Come on over here and I'll prove it to you guys."

"This is Trunks and Goten-ojisan at ages two and three with eleven year-old tousan in the corner here," she pointed to a glossy photo in the upper left hand corner. "You see all of this closeness here? I heard Trunks-chan was mean to him but Goten still remained his friend. Why is that?" She flipped a few more pages and pointed to another photo. The two chibi demi-saiya-jins had big grins on their faces and arms around each other's shoulders. "This is them at the tournament. Trunks is eight and Goten's seven. Ya see this?"

"I disagree," Bra said. "They would have never known if you hadn't of said they were saiya-jin."

"Have you ever met my tousan, my kaasan, and my obaasan?" Pan asked with one eyebrow raised.

"Of course I have bakayaro!"

"Then you know how they would freak out if Mia-obasan told him about that boy."

"Oh yeah, you're right. I would have told anything to get out of that situation."

Jakina was still insistent. "That's not an excuse!"

"Why argue over this?" Jas spoke up. "What's done is done. Nothing can change that." Neither girl heard him.

"What we need is a plan," Pan motioned for them to lean in closer. "Trunks will never have to find out I blabbed his secret."

As they discussed possible plans, Magori continued to play with his new toys and the other four adults plus Mia left the room, got coats, and went outside for a walk.

"How are you liking Chikyuu so far?" Mia asked as she pushed the button to electronicly close the gate behind them.

"It's really great!" Taura said with enthusiasm. "I would move here but there's all this paperwork to take care of to move my business and stuff. Besides, all of my family lives there."

"You would be helping us out a lot if you moved here. The man at the currency exchange place in Astra said that our unit of money couldn't be exchanged unless we had a booth on the trading floor. You could sell things for yen and we would be all set!"

"I would have to see what would be good about living on this planet," he said slowly. "I'm seriously thinking about it but there are things to take care of. What about you, Jas? Are you still going to be a Death Chaser?"

"We now know how to seal rifts am I correct? Kallen and I should go to every place where there is a rift and seal them up. Taura, you can stay here with everyone."

"I want to be there on Tale for the sealing. Once we're finished we can always make our way back to Chikyuu. We should be more than a few weeks but then again I have no idea how many rifts there are total."

"I have something that I wish to ask of you," Jas said. "How does a planet become a member of the Alliance?"

"Your planetary leader fills out forms One A, One B, and Once C and we get back to you." Vegeta smiled. "It's not hard at all."

His voice was filled with surprise. "We apply for a position?"

"I'm kidding! I'm kidding! Seriously though, your leader gets together with Papa and you make a deal. I should tell you now that Suk'dn-sei Namek-sei are a part of the Alliance."

"We don't have one leader for the entire world. There are many leaders for many areas."

"I have no idea how this will work, then. Chikyuu used to be that way but Papa's working on redoing the boundaries. At this moment we have over one hundred and fifty countries and several large races of people. I think he should seperate everyone by languages, not races. This planet is too huge and diverse to rule without designated areas."

"And without help," Mia added.

"Hai, he needs that too. Papa can only speak three languages and one of them won't even help him here. Imagine this, though: Trunks gets to rule it all when Papa dies."

"He won't die, remember? He has water from the immortality spring." Kallen frowned. "There has to be some way to use it for more than one person. Maybe Bulma-san can come up with something."

The entire group stopped on the sidewalk. "What do you mean?" Vegeta asked.

"Exactly that. Only one person can consume the water because there is only enough for one dosage. You can't split it in half or anything because it will lose some of its power. Half of the magical water will probably only extend your life maybe three or four hundred years. Imagine how surprised you would be if one day you go to sleep and the next day you're checking in with Enma."

"Kami!" He exclaimed. "I hope kaasan finds someway to change that. But seriously this has been a very good year. After what happened earlier this year I'm surprised that everyone was able to bounce back this quickly. I can't say that it's just like nothing happened but this is pretty close."

"Like Tiny Tim says in _"A Christmas Story"_ 'God bless us, everyone'." Mia said this with a smile. "You guys want to go back now? It's about time for another saiya-jin mass feeding. All of the non-saiyan-jins are probably gonna gather somewhere and fear for their safety. C'mon, it'll be cool!"

Everyone laughed as she imitated both Goku and Vegeta's eating habits. They also laughed when she slipped on a patch of ice and landed on her back in a gathering snow drift, Vegeta the hardest.

"Not funny," she grumped as she brushed off the snow. "Just for that I'm eating your food, V.J." Mia ran off, laughing, for the palace.

"No! I'm hungry! You can't do that!"

"Watch me!" Was the only reply.

Chikyuu went through a terrible time eight months ago that harmed many people and terrified them all. In the months following the Kamoku-jin's attack and eventual defeat, Vegeta decided to unite the planet's people and form a more perfect society. One saying still stands true: united we stand, divided we fall.

~OWARI~

How did you like the longest book so far (485kb total)? Book three will be coming eventually so watch out for it. I have no idea at the moment if there will be a book four and five but I'm thinking about it. The whole Trunks & Goten thing was considered in the first version of this fanfic but then discarded. I changed my mind in the end. Here's a little hint about what's going to be in book three: read Once Upon a Dream. Seventeen chapters plus an epilogue isn't that bad. You'll thank me later.


	21. Book Two: Quest for Agalar - New Year, New Hope

**Saturday, December 31st to Sunday, January 1st AA (After Alliance) 001**   
  


Two figures whispered in the hallway of a spacious mansion in Satan City. One, the older one with lavender hair, tried in vain to shut the younger one up but his little brother would not. Trunks was resorted to looking up-and-down the hallway to make sure that Goten could not overhear their conversation.

"You could ring in the new year right, Trunks," Vegeta Junior said to him. "At twelve midnight you two could kiss and everything."

"Kiss him in front of people?" Trunks asked. "Forget about it. You know kaasan's throwing that formal 'gathering' New Year's Eve."

"Doesn't matter. If anyone has anything smart to say you could just kick their ass."

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, now *that's* a great solution to the problem. I can see the headlines now: 'Prince Trunks Beats Up Trusting Citizens of Satan City'. You know that's not the real problem."

"You're afraid to tell him."

"Of course I am!" He shook his head. "He's been my best-friend for more years than I can even remember. But that's it; we were just friends. I think I have some really weird hormonal imbalance."

"You think it just developed when you hit puberty or something?" He shook his head. "Quit trying to come up with reasons and just accept it."

Trunks laughed bitterly. "V.J., you're one to talk about acceptance. You're normal."

"So are you, Niichan." Nothing he could say was going to make him feel better. He knew that. "Look, I'll see you in the morning. We have a lot of stuff to get done."

"Yeah," Trunks muttered, not really listening to him. They parted and went to their seperate rooms.

Trunks got into bed, still thinking about his not-so-secret love for Goten. He thought he was lucky that Goten himself didn't know about it. Secrets didn't last long in the palace simply because most of the residents couldn't keep one to save their life. Pan had to be the worst, though. He remembered asking her not to tell anyone that he was the one that had ran over the mailbox when he was seventeen but the little girl had told Bra who in turn told Bulma when she was asked. If Pan was a terrible secret-keeper, Bra was an even worse liar.

"Will I ever get up enough courage to tell him?" Trunks asked the darkness. He had no idea Goten already knew. "I'm a demi-saiya-jin, prince of the Chikyuu-sei Empire. I should be able to face anything and anyone."

He fell asleep still worrying over Goten's reaction to his confession and had a nightmare because of it.

***

An anguished cry that originated from Trunks' room woke the entire third floor the next day. Goten, who shared a bathroom with the other man, was the first to arrive on the scene. Trunks sat straight up in bed, blue eyes wide and face pale, looking straight through Goten as if he couldn't see him.

"Trunks! Are you okay?" Goten asked worriedly as Trunks' eyes didn't focus. He kneeled next to his bed and waved his hand in front of his face. Nothing resulted from it.

"What happened?" said a voice at the door and Goten looked over to see his sister. "He screamed like someone was trying to kill him."

"I think he had a nightmare," Goten replied. "But he won't snap out of it." He shook Trunks' shoulder, trying to wake him. "I think you should go get Bulma-san."

She nodded silently and left the room. Goten was just about to shake Trunks again when he blinked at gave his friend a questioning look.

"I don't mean to sound rude," he said, "but why are you in here?"

"You're fine now?" Goten asked, trying to be sure before he left. Trunks looked down at his blanket for a moment and spoke so quietly that the other man could barely hear him.

"Yeah, I am. At least I think so anyway." He looked up with his mother appeared in the door and sort of smiled when she chased Goten away.

"Do you want to tell me about it, Trunks?" she asked, speaking to him as if he were a little child. Trunks was not amused and told her as much. "I'm your mother. You'll always be a little boy in my eyes."

"V.J. and I had a talk last night about when was I going to tell Goten about... you know." He took a deep breath and all of the words rushed out in a long string. "InmydreamItoldGotenandhelaughedatmeforit." He took another deep breath and this time closed his eyes. He could still see the look on Goten's face in the dream. Trunks slowed down his words but it took considerable effort. "He told me that I was disgusting and not only was he not going to be my boyfriend he wasn't going to be my best-friend either." He looked at his mother. "That's why I can't tell him, Kaasan. I don't want to lose him as a friend."

"Trunks," Bulma said as she held him close. "Goten won't react that way."

His voice was muffled by his mother's shoulder when he spoke. "You can't tell how someone would react. Look at papa. He was cool about it. I thought he was going to beat the shi-crap out of me for not being 'manly' enough."

"Your papa's an unpredictable person, Trunks," she said with faint amusement. "You can't ever guess at what he's going to do or say next. Just when you think you have him figured out he goes off and surprises you again. Goten isn't anything of the above. He's like Son-kun in that respect. You can always count on them not to change. In your heart you know how he's going to react and you should believe it. You know him better than anyone."

"I guess so." He pulled away and rubbed at his eyes, trying to retain some of his usual 'unbothered by anything' attitude. He failed miserably at it and instead got up from his bed and went over to his window. It faced Bulma's garden and he felt just like the plants: Dead. If Summer could be called Goten's season, Winter could definitely be considered his.

"I'm going downstairs to start breakfast," Bulma said at length. "If you're okay by yourself that is."

Trunks was in a depressing mood, not a suicidal one. He made the decision to go downstairs to the kitchen with her and help her cook. "Is ChiChi awake yet?"

Bulma rolled her eyes. "I know what you're getting at. You guys always want ChiChi to cook! I'm queen, you know. I can do it."

"No, you can't Kaasan. Sorry to be so blunt but you're awful at it. We all want ChiChi to cook because we don't want to be moaning in pain later on."

On the second floor they were passed by four short figures in snow gear. Pan waved at them before thrusting one fist into the air.

"Snowball fight!" she shouted.

"Ah," Trunks smiled. "Nothing like a kid trying to get in the last few days of Christmas vacation."

"We're hoping for snow days too," Bra said as she went by. "But we know it's probably not gonna happen." Their footsteps were loud as they ran down the stairs and out the front door. Both Trunks and Bulma could hear Vegeta grumbling in the main hall.

"No running in the house!" He shouted after them, the front door open. A snowball came out of no where and hit him in the face. He wiped away the cold snow and shouted, "WHO THREW THAT?!" His answer was another but this time it hit him in the chest. There was some giggling but that was all. Trunks and Bulma peeked out the front window only to see Goku and Gohan slap fives.

"I can't believe Mr. Serious Scientist is playing around." Trunks shook his head with a grin.

"He wouldn't be if I hadn't told him that he was fired if he worked today. Even I don't work as much as he does."

Vegeta slammed the door shut, his clothes soaking wet. Grumbling to himself, he removed his shirt and left it in a wet puddle next to the front door. Spying them chuckling by the window he said, "Have I told you lately how much I hate this mudball of a planet?"

"Nope," Bulma grinned.

"Well I do and one day I'm probably going to destroy it."

"Now that would be definitely counterproductive," Trunks muttered as he followed his mother to the kitchen. "Blowing up the very planet you fight to save."

"Don't think I didn't hear that!" Vegeta shouted just as he stepped into a puddle of melted snow. Groaning loudly, he removed his socks as well. "I tell you, I completely and utterly despise this planet."

Preparing a meal for just his family while not easy wasn't very difficult. There were only six of them then. Preparing food for thirteen people was just insane. Luckily Magori didn't eat. The little Namek sat at the table during every meal with a huge bottle of water that he sipped leisurely. He wanted to try Chikyuu-jin food but really didn't know what the outcome would be. Bulma was, of course, performing tests to see if it would be okay. Any one of them would do almost anything to make the little guy happy.

While Bulma and Trunks stirred, fried, and gathered up plates, glasses, and silverware to set the table with they had a discussion about Trunks' dream. He wasn't afraid that Goten was going to show up in the kitchen because he was afraid to cook. The last time he tried -- it had been at his old home -- he almost burned down the house when the mircowave blew up. That was the last time he tried to cook a raw egg that way. In fact it had been the last time he used the microwave period. Trunks laughed in rememberance of the time Goten heard the timer on it ding and he powered up to super saiya-jin out of reflex. He hadn't been the only one who thought it was hilarious.

"What's so funny, Trunks?" Bulma asked as she poured more pancake batter onto the gridle. Trunks made sure to tell her when it was time to flip them over.

"When do you think Goten and the microwave will get along again?" he asked.

"Probably never. He'll be ordering out for the rest of his life."

A rhythmic thumping sound got his attention and Trunks opened the kitchen door to see what it was. The kids, Goku, Mia, and Goten were pouding their hands on the table chanting, "We want food! We want food!" Trunks and his mother started to bring all of the platters out and set them on the table but most wouldn't touch it when they saw who had cooked it. Goku, who'll eat practically anything, was eyeing the eggs as if they were going to jump up and bite him. Trunks sat in his chair next to Goten and helped himself to a portion.

"I cooked them," he explained. That was all the reassurance Goku needed. Before you could say the word 'glutton', almost half the bowl was on his plate.

"What else did *you* cook, Niichan," Bra asked, trying to tell by looking at the food. "I'm guessing the bacon here."

"Yeah," Pan snickered. "Trunks cooked it because it's not burnt."

"Maybe not the pancakes. Some of them are a little dark."

"Oh you guys are *real* funny," Bulma muttered. "About as funny as a hernia."

"Have I told everyone my latest plan to do away with this planet?" Vegeta asked casually. As he began to describe his big plan, his forkfull of pancake was waving in the air with Goku's eyes tracking its every movement. "It would be a simple thing to just let the next evil alien blow the entire thing up. I should try that."

"Are you serious?" Magori asked, his eyes wide. Mia patted his hand and tried to reassure him.

"Don't listen to the crazy man, Magori. Nothing is going to happen to Chikyuu." She waved her hand around the table. No one else was paying Vegeta the least bit of attention.

"I am not crazy!" He threw his right arm out for emphasis and Goku grabbed his hand and took the fork from it.

"Don't ever taunt me with food, Vegeta!" he said as he swallowed. "You know I can't resist it."

Vegeta looked disgustedly at the utensil his general offered him and dropped it onto the table. "Now I need another fork."

"You know where they are," Bulma said, not moving an inch. "Help youself."

When the plates, bowls, and platters were completely devoid of food the kids looked at each other and shouted in unison, "Not cleaning!" That said, all four escaped clearing the table by simply stating they would not. Goten, Trunks, Mia, and V.J. quickly followed suit and that left six adults.

"I'm the king. I don't have to clean up." Vegeta announced as he rose from his chair. He motioned to Goku with his head that he should excuse himself too but it took a little while for the younger saiya-jin to get it.

"Oh!" he exclaimed. "I have to go, uh...." Vegeta grabbed his arm and dragged him from the room.

 _"We're going to spar, bakayaro,"_ Vegeta said mentally.

"Oh yeah! We're going to spar. Have a nice time cleaning!"

"I'm just going to go back to the lab..." Bulma fixed Gohan with a stern stare. "I mean go play with my daughters." He chuckled nervously as he picked up Moura from her high chair and exited the room.

"Why is it that we always get stuck on the clean-up crew?" Videl sighed as she began to stack up the plates. "I think the ones who cooked should clean up."

ChiChi pointed out something. "You don't ever cook."

"It's not like I can't, you know. But why should I have to with so many other people around?"

"To give Bulma and I a break." ChiChi glared at her. "I've never liked you that much, Videl. You are completely wrong for my Gohan." Bulma ignored both of them as she finished up.

"Oh yeah?" Videl asked. "You're a psycho!" Bulma saw ChiChi move from the corner of her eye and ducked on instinct. A glass flew over her head and luckly Videl caught it.

"Hey! You can't throw my dishes around like that!" Bulma said while covering her head. "I know why you two hate each other."

"Why?" said both in unison.

"The two of you are so much alike that you can't stand each other. Both of you are stubborn, tempermental women who hate to be wrong. Why Gohan married someone exactly like his mother will always confuse me." She shooed them both from the room. "I'll finish up here. You two go bother somebody else." Bulma went into the kitchen and left the two of them standing in the dining room

"The nerve of that woman!" ChiChi said, highly offended. "I have work to do anyway." She went through the door, through the main hall, and up the stairs. Videl stood, watching her for a moment, then shaking her head she went to find her husband.

"Am I really like her?" she asked herself. She thought about it for a moment and then shook her head. "No way!"

***

The remainder of the day was spent preparing for the event that night. The caterers were hired, the decorations were being hung, the party favors were sitting in a huge box next to the main entrance and Bulma's masterpiece, a mechanical ball that would drop at the stroke of midnight, sat high above in the ballroom. The kids were arguing with Bulma on whether they could use the ballroom to rollerskate in that night. Bra said that the important adults were going to be bringing less important children who would get bored if they didn't have any entertainment. All the other kids agreed.

"Besides," she said, "I've already added it to the invitations."

"What?" Bulma asked in a stunned voice.

"I really did, Kaasan. Before you sent them to the printer's I wrote it down at the bottom. Didn't you noticed that it cost a little bit more than you thought they would?"

"You're the reason I had to pay so much extra," she said, still not believing it. "Bra! I'm not made out of money you know!"

"Hai, you are! You still own the Capsule Corp. Kaasan. You get money from that."

Bulma opened her mouth to respond to that and only silence came out for a moment. "You know what? You're right. I am richer than anyone else in the world. Still, that doesn't make it okay for you to turn my ballroom into a rollerskating rink! Now where are the other guests supposed to go?"

"We don't need the entire thing, Kaasan. Only part of it. The dancing can still be in there as well as the buffet table. Just block off the upstairs from the guests and everything'll be fine. Come on, Kaasan!" She pleaded. "Pan and I are wearing dresses for you! You know what she says. 'How can I kick bad guy ass in a skirt?' " She did a pretty good imitation of her best-friend that made even Bulma laugh and forget to correct her language.

"Fine, Bra-chan. I'll let you get away with tricking me this one time but if you do it again..."

Bra supplied her own threat. "You'll force me to wear frilly pink party dresses for the rest of the school year?" Her mother smiled slowly at her words and nodded.

"Hai, exactly that."

" 'Kay Kaasan!" She hugged her and skipped off. "I love you!"

"You only say that when you get what you want!" Bulma called back. She felt that one potential disaster was out of the way but another problem soon made itself known.

"NO ONNA YOU CAN'T TAKE THOSE!" Vegeta roared. "GET OUT OF HERE!"

"YOU DON'T OWN THIS ROOM, VEGETA!" ChiChi shouted back. "I DON'T SEE YOUR NAME ON IT ANYWHERE!"

Bulma sighed. "What now? Honestly, sometimes I feel like their mother too." She followed the yelling to their source: Vegeta's study.

"You don't even use these books!" ChiChi said while tapping the cover of one that read, _Educational Theory_. "You made me Minister of Education, remember? I'm supposed to take interest in our planet's children!"

"You were going to make them go to school all year!" Vegeta said accusingly. "I will not have those children whining to me every day. About that or those stupid school uniforms."

"What is going on in here?" Bulma asked with curiosity as she took one of the chairs that sat across from Vegeta's desk. Among the short saiya-jin's laptop on the desk there were sheets upon sheets of papers that needed to be looked at. If someone had said anything about how much paperwork pops up after you becoming a ruling monarch, she might not have taken the job. Bulma had her own share of paperwork on her desk in the lab. Vegeta may get all the law proposals, trade agreements, and border disputes but she received almost everything else. Jakina went between the two everyday, helping to sort through the papers. The little girl was a big help.

"I came into my office only to find this onna," Vegeta jerked at thumb at the still-glaring ChiChi, "pulling books from my shelves. She should ask permission before taking someone's books, you know."

"I only did this to help stabilize my department of the government. Kami knows you haven't been doing anything to help it. It surprises me that someone hasn't already taken advantage of the non-existent laws on Chikyuu."

"They're still trying to move on from the Kamoku-jin Incident," Bulma told her. "They don't know what's going to happen next. What are we going to tell them? 'Sorry but we haven't killed the evil aliens that attacked the world and killed all of your loved ones?' I don't think so! I refuse to allow these people to sink down to the level of the Kamoku-jin. We will not go to that planet and perform a mass genocide and/or blow the entire thing up. At least not without discovering why they did it in the first place."

"Brilliant speech, Bulma," ChiChi said sarcastically. "But I'm not the one you have to convince here. It's the people who's husbands, wives, children, brothers, and sisters were killed because of them. If you can convince those people that the Kamoku-jin shouldn't be killed without a fair trial then you are, by far, the greatest public speaker who has ever lived."

"She won't be making any speeches anyway," Vegeta said. "I'm the king here."

Bulma looked over at her mate with angry eyes. "We share power, Vegeta, just like we share everything else. How many times do I have to tell you that this is not Vegeta-sei? One person alone can not rule over a planet with billions of people living on it. Vegeta-sei did not have nearly as many living, breathing beings! You screw up one time, *one time*, people will die as a result. I know that, despite what words may come out of your mouth, you don't want anything like that to happen. I know you understand how many people are counting on us to lead them. They trust us with their lives, Vegeta, and we're not going to let them down."

Vegeta did not have a single word to say to that. He and Bulma continued to stare at each other, each determined not to look away first. ChiChi used the time to grab a few more books and escape to her bedroom with nary a remark from the king. The grandfather clock in the outside hall chimed three times and the sound echoed, working against the sudden quietness of their area of the palace. Both Bulma and Vegeta broke eye contact the moment the sound of the third chime ceased to be and Bulma decided to sit down and really talk about the future.

Only eight hours remained until midnight and Bulma was determined to start the new year off right.

***

"Please have your invitations out and ready by the time you reach the door!" Pan shouted to the line in front of the house. The entire thing stretched from the front door to the sidewalk and it was being kept in check by a velvet rope on two sides. Some of the important officials were a little offended at having to wait in line like everyone else but Pan quickly set them straight.

"Would you rather wait or would you rather have a bullet in your brain from an assassin's gun?" That got the point across really quick. Pan reached a person in the line who did not have his invitation out and politely asked to see it.

"I don't have one," he said, sneering at her. "What is a little girl like you gonna do about it anyway?"

She grabbed his arm and twisted it hard behind his back, smiling all the while. "I'm going to escort you from the premises and all of your friends get to see how you were bounced by a little girl." She motioned to a television camera with her free hand. "Say hi to the world, jackass, you're on a billion t.v.s world-wide!"

Majority of the invited guests in line were laughing openly at his predicament, while the remaining few were chuckling discreetly. Those who did not have an invitation, quietly snuck off so that they would not get humiliated by Son Pan.

"After presenting your invitation, please take a complementary party hat and/or noisemaker." Jakina and Magori maintained the area that was right inside the doorway while Bra helped Pan police the line. She smiled every time she handed a party hat to a guest and said, "Hope you have a great time." After the twentieth time she was getting a little sick of it.

"Come on! Switch with me Bra!" she called to her neechan outside of the palace. "I can kick bad guy butt too!"

"Line jumpers and uninvited guests won't even spare you a glance," V.J. smirked as he dropped by to see how everyone was doing. "You're small, you're nine, and you're female."

"We can have fun soon," Magori said as he handed out more noisemakers. "Just think of the food and the music that we picked."

"After all these people get in we can have the time of our lives!" She said this with more than a little sarcasm. "Someone please tell me how many are still out there?"

"Around thirty or forty," V.J. reported as he went to rejoin the party. "Happy greeting."

"I hate this job," Jakina muttered to herself.

***

"My job, as king, is to just stand here, look good, and exchange pleasantries with various guests." Vegeta informed his mate as he saw her heading over. "My job is *not* to dance."

"You danced at the Christmas party and there were more people there."

"Fine," he grumbled as he took her hand. "Stop begging already."

"I'm not begging!" She protested as she allowed him to lead her onto the small space that served as the dance floor. Bra had been wrong about one thing before: There really wasn't enough room for rollerskating and dancing too. As the kids flew around the polished floor (with Bulma cringing at every scuff mark), the adults were crammed into one tiny corner. She was elbowed three times by people and when Vegeta stepped on her foot she was finished with dancing.

"I'm going to get something to drink!" she shouted to Vegeta over the noise of both the music and the people. He nodded and as soon as she released him, a woman came up and asked him for a dance. Smirking in Bulma's direction, he said yes.

"I will not let that man get to me," Bulma muttered over and over again to herself. "I am stronger than that." She poured herself a glass of punch and paused right when the cup was at her lips. Sniffing, she asked herself, "What's in this?" Getting an idea, she turned to search the room for three young men.

"TRUNKS!"

The lavander haired man looked up from his converation with Mia and saw a very angry mother who's face was slowly turning red from the effort it took not to scream at him even more. He smiled innocently at her all the while inching towards the nearest exit.

"She's tomato-colored now," Mia observed. "She might just be pissed enough to hurt you in front of all these people. You hide and I'll try to keep her away." Trunks looked at her and then spared at glance at Goten. "No there's no time! Run! Quick now!"

"If I don't make it through this," Trunks said, "will you tell him I love him?"

She nodded. "Hai, now go!" With one last glance at his secret love, Trunks ran through the door and up the stairs.

"You do know that was overdramatic, right?" V.J. asked as Bulma stalked over to them. "Oh konichi wa, Kaasan. Lovely party, isn't it?"

"Where is that boy?" Bulma asked from between her clenched teeth. "I want to hurt him for spiking the punch."

"What did he put in it?" V.J. asked, clearly interested.

Mia rolled her eyes. "Does it matter?"

"I didn't drink any, Vegeta Briefs Junior. I smelled it first." The young man wisely stayed silent. When Bulma used his full name he knew she meant business. Turning back to ChiChi and Goku's youngest she asked, "Where is he?"

"Someplace beyond your reach," she answered creatively.

"His room then," Bulma said as she went off after her son. "By the way, you two can have that punch. Can't have guests driving home drunk, you know." The two of them rushed over to remove the punch bowl before anyone else could take a drink from it.

Goten wandered over with a confused look on his face. "Why is Bulma so mad?"

"Your boyfriend spiked the punch," Mia smirked. "She's going to off him."

"He's not my-" He cut himself off. "She's going to kill him for that?"

"Naw," V.J. said. "But we get to keep the punch." He rubbed his hands together in undisguised glee.

"Excuse me for not being as excited as you two are," Goten said with a grin. "I can go to a bar for a drink and you two little children can't. Aw, how sad."

"Shut up niichan and help us take this to Trunks. It was his handiwork that got us this after all." Mia carefully balanced the bowl and slowly carried it out of the noisy room, through the great hall, and up two flights of stairs. V.J. and Goten hovered near her just in case it started to tip. She told Goten to open the door to her room and the three of them entered, shutting and locking the door behind them.

"She thinks you went to your room," Mia said to Trunks who had moved away from the door to allow them to enter. "My plan was good, wasn't it?" She set the punch bowl down on a table and paused. "Did anyone bring cups?" After a moment of silence, Goten sighed and volunteered himself to back downstairs for them.

"Why did you bring him up here?!" Trunks asked as soon as the door was closed. The other two exchanged glances and made noises of frustration.

"Trunks, you know I love you but if you don't tell him your secret soon I'm going to have to kill you." Mia said to him. She couldn't threaten him with 'telling Goten herself' since he already knew. "You're a mature, responsible adult-" She looked at him. "Well you're an adult anyway." He glared at her. "My point is this: Goten loves you. He's not one to throw away a friendship over this. That's more of Vegeta-san type of thing."

"Not anymore it isn't," V.J. said, "Papa was fine with the entire thing." The door opened and the conversation was over.

"Who wants to play a game?" Mia asked as she poured herself some punch. "We'll have to hide-out here with poor Trunks until the party is over at least."

"What kind of game? Please don't tell me you're thinking about Monopoly or something!"

"No, _Ve-ge-ta_ ," she stressed each syllable of his name with annoyance. "I was talking about ' _I Never_ '. It's a drinking game. I'll start." She smirked and turned to Trunks specifically. "I've never kept a secret from my best-friend." Trunks and Goten both drank and then looked at each other accusingly.

"What are you hiding, Trunks?" Goten asked even though he had a feeling. The other man mumbled something and abruptly changed the subject.

"I'll go next," he said. "I've never had sex." It was the first thing that came in his mind and he wished that he could take it back. Trunks blushed and looked down at Mia's carpet. The only person who drank on this one was V.J. so he didn't feel so bad.

Goten went next. "I've never wet the bed as a kid." There was a pause and then V.J. drank again. The other three burst into laughter but he didn't blush.

"Hey, I had too much to drink that night okay?" V.J. said. "I was three."

"No explanation needed, bedwetter," Mia said with a smile. "Okay... I've never had a wet dream." All three men drank to this one. She shook her head. "I'm not even going to ask."

Trunks, again, blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "I've never accidentally walked in on my parents having sex." He took a drink and so did V.J.

"Since kaasan and tousan hardly ever do it," Mia said, "we were never at risk. Bulma-san and Vegeta-san copulate like bunnies."

"*Frantic* bunnies," Trunks corrected. "I was fifteen when they decided to soundproof their room. Kaasan's a screamer. I remember that Bra-chan actually called the police once and told them that papa was killing kaasan and she was shouting for kami's help."

"Too much information, Trunks," Goten said with a smile. "I think we should play a different game. Has everyone heard of ' _The Name Game_ '?"

"Nope," Mia said. "Do they play it at one of your big boy bars?" He chose to ignore her.

"The name game is easy and it'll get you drunker than ' _I Never_ ' will. Someone says the name of someone famous and the next person says the name of some other famous person but their first name has to begin with the first letter of the last name of the previous person. If you can't think of one you have to drink until you do. The order reverses if you say someone with only goes by one name or they have the same letter for both their first and last names. Everyone understand that?"

V.J. blinked. "Iie."

"You will. Michael Jordan."

"Jonathan Taylor Thomas." Mia answered promptly.

Trunks quickly came up with a name. "Tim Allen." Then everything stopped on V.J. who started to drink and continued to do so until almost a minute later.

"Aaliyah."

"Uh... Damn." Trunks drank one entire glass and half of another before he thought of someone. "Angelina Jolie."

"Jewel."

"Will you people stop doing this to me?!" Trunks drank the rest of his cup and said, "Janet Jackson."

"Jim Carey," said Mia. "And now it's back to you, Big Bro."

"Christina Aguilera."

"Adam Sandler. Ha! I was ready this time!" V.J. said this proudly as if he had answered the one-million dollar question.

"Sandra Bullock."

"Barbra Streisand."

"Sarah Michelle Gellar."

The smile faded right off V.J.'s face as he strugged with a 'G' name. He finished two glasses before he came up with, "Gwyneth Paltrow."

"Peter Jennings." Mia was a master at the game.

"Why do I always get the 'J' names?" Trunks asked no one in particular. "Jennifer Lopez."

"Lil' Kim." Goten was also a master at the game.

"Kirk Douglas."

Mia hesitated. "She's faltering!" V.J. said with glee. Then, with a big smirk, she said, "Donald Duck." And reversed it back to him.

"DAMN IT!"

"Sorry, you can't use that as your celebrity," she said with a big smile. V.J., who was by far the most buzzed, drank an entire glass of punch for the heck of it.

"Drew Barrymore," he said at last and hiccuped. The game resumed.

The four of them played until it was after eleven forty-five and by that time, Vegeta Junior was on the verge of passing out. Goten and Mia were just about cold sober and Trunks was only slightly disoriented.

"I commend you for your game, Niichan," Mia said with a big grin as she poked V.J. and watched him stumble. "Dimwitted people can't keep up with it."

Trunks protested weakly. "Hey! That's my niichan you're talking about." A high-pitched giggled caught all of their attention as Vegeta amused himself with a lamp shade. "Nevermind. I don't claim that baka."

"Well, it's almost twelve so I'm going to go downstairs and make silly resolutions that I'm not going to keep. What will it be this year? Get straight As or beat Goten sparring?" The three of them walked down the hallway to the staircase, leaving Vegeta alone with his lampshade.

"I like 'beat Goten sparring'," Trunks said. "Give yourself a good goal this time."

"It's not like it's ever going to happen." Goten was absolutely sure of this.

"Pan-chan kicked your ass when she was four, remember?" Trunks said.

"I was having an off day!"

"Yeah, whatever."

"Where have you guys been?" Bra asked. "We were looking all over for you." She handed them noisemakers.

"Did you hear the story about Trunks and the punch?" Goten asked.

"He spiked it?"

"Hai and we've been upstairs drinking it up."

The huge crowd of guests were speaking in low voices now, some periodically checking their watches. Soon it was thirty seconds before the new year and a disturbance had everyone looking to the main entrance.

"Oh my kami!" Bra gasped. "Is that V.J.?!" It was. The young man was running crazily though the ballroom waving his arms in the air and laughing. "He's..."

"HE'S NAKED!" Jakina covered her eyes. "I did not need to see that."

"Subject Vegeta does not hold his liquor very well," Mia said in her best documentary voice. "The young man is prone to remove all of his protective outer covering and run around insanely to the amusement of his friends, his family, and complete strangers." He ran out just as suddenly as he ran in and someone started the countdown just as Bulma's device began to slowly lower itself.

"Five, four, three-" Everyone joined in. "-two, one. Happy Hew Year!" An explosion of brightly colored confetti burst from the ball and showered everyone with little bits of paper. As the singing began, various resolutions and hopes for the new year were silently being made.

" _Should auld acquaintance be forgot,_ "

'I hope niichan and Goten-niichan live happily ever after.'

" _And never brought to mind?_ "

'Chikyuu has been though enough over the years. I hope I can protect it until the day I die.'

" _Should auld acquaintance be forgot_ ,"

'I'm going to be a better scientist and find a way to cure everything.'

" _And days of auld lang syne?_ "

'I would wish that Taisho would stop stalking me but since that's probably impossible to grant I wish that Trunks would get up enough nerve to talk to Goten-niichan.'

" _And days of auld lang syne, my dear,_ "

'I'm going to tell Goten how I feel. No more procrastination.'

" _And days of auld lang syne._ "

'The people of this planet will not have to worry. As their queen I will always rule in their best interests.'

" _Should auld acquaintance be forgot,_ "

'Chikyuu's future is not destruction. We all will see to that. I am Vegeta and I am king.'

" _And days of auld lang syne?_ "

  
~OWARI~

Coming up next in The New Age Empire: Spring Break. Will Vegeta ever get enough peace and quiet to finish his government? Will Trunks stick to his resolution? Will there ever be a space military? Stay tuned for the next side-story and find out.


	22. Book Two: Quest for Agalar - Law, Order, and A Little R & R

**April 15th (Chikyuu Rememberance Day) to April 20th**   
  


In April of the following year, Vegeta decided to perfect his government. There were still plenty of things that were half-finished or unfinished completely and he really needed to correct that before the peasants revolted.

The fifteenth day of the fourth month was a holiday now. It was a day of rememberance for all of the innocents that were killed because of the Kamoku-jin. The holiday hadn't been Vegeta's idea; it had come from the mind of Bulma.

The week also began a vacation known to people everywhere: Spring Break. Vegeta wanted to flee once again from all of the reporters that continuously stalked him everywhere he went. He could have killed them but that wouldn't have made a good impression on everyone else. So he secretly made plans with a travel agent for a brief vacation to finish his laws and things. He wasn't going to go alone, his wife and children were of course coming with him.

"Why are we having a family meeting?" Bra asked as she took the seat on the couch next to her father. There had only been three other family meetings prior to this one. The first had been before V.J. and Goten had departed for Agalar, the second was New Year's Day, after V.J. got drunk on the punch Trunks had spiked and flashed the party guests, and the third had been in Feburary when Bulma yelled at everyone for tracking wet, dirty snow through her house. Bra could only imagine what this one could be about.

"We're going on a trip to Miami for Spring Break," he told them while displaying his plane tickets. "I bought a beach house down there some time ago." Everyone looked at him with shocked looks on their faces. "What? You didn't know?"

"Of course we didn't know!" Bulma exclaimed. Then she counted his tickets. "How come there are only six tickets there?"

"For obvious reaons, Onna. I refuse to let Kakarotto and his insane family come too!"

"How big is the house? How many bedrooms and bathrooms are there?"

"There are seven bedrooms and four bathrooms." He looked away. "That doesn't mean a thing."

"Hai, it does Papa." Bra cleared her throat as if preparing for a big speech. "If you really didn't want Goku-san and his family coming down there with us then you wouldn't have gotten such a big house."

"Would you believe me if I told you that it was the only one left?" They all looked at him with a lot of head shaking. "I didn't really think so."

"Go to wherever you got the tickets and get nine more." Trunks said this in a tone that would allow no arguments. Vegeta, surprising, didn't say a word. He merely picked up the phone, dialed the travel agent's office, and made the plans. It cost them a medium fortune this time but it wasn't like they couldn't afford it.

"I'm going to go tell Pan!" Bra said excitedly. She and Jakina left the room and headed upstairs.

"You need to pack because we're leaving tomorrow!" Vegeta shouted after them. He looked at Bulma and sighed. "Do you know how much tickets cost when you buy them at the last minute?"

"I can imagine," she said. "But it wasn't *your* money now was it?"

A small smirk appeared on his lips. "Iie, I guess not." He turned toward his sons, then, and both of them instantly knew that he wanted something from them. "One of you need to go get the tickets."

"Can't you just get them at the gate?" V.J. asked.

"I don't trust those ningen not to screw up. I suggest you go, Trunks, and take Goten with you."

"But Papa!" Trunks protested. "I can't!"

"This entire thing has been going on long enough. You need to talk to him some day, Trunks. It'll be easier sooner than later."

"I can't believe I'm saying this," Bulma began, "but Vegeta's right."

During the conversation, V.J. tried to sneak from the room. Trunks still didn't know that Goten knew because one of Pan's plans had worked for once. She had just explained to everyone that they couldn't tell Trunks that they knew on penalty of death. She couldn't kill any of them besides Kallen, Taura, and Jas but it was effective. No one had spoken about it since. The only reason Vegeta and Bulma knew was because Trunks had told them himself. He had wanted advice and now he was paying the price.

He blinked. "Nani?"

"Hai, Trunks. You have to tell him sometime. Would you want to go through the rest of your life not knowing what could have happened? If not today then tell him in Miami. You'll feel better."

V.J. successfully escaped the room and ran upstairs to find Goten. He wasn't going to warn him of a future talk but urge him to start the discussion. He had time to deal with everything, Trunks was the one stressing.

Goten was coming down the hall as soon as Vegeta made it to the third floor. He grabbed the other demi-saiya-jin by the arm and yanked him into his room. Shutting the door tightly, he leaned against it while Goten stared at him in perplexion.

"What are you doing?" he asked while taking a seat on V.J.'s bed. A very Son-like confusion settled on his face as he looked up at Vegeta.

"You have to talk to my niichan," he responded as he began to pace the room. "Do you see how this is killing him?"

"Hai," Goten looked down at the floor guiltily. "It's killing me too. I would never do anything to hurt him on purpose but I just don't know what to say."

"We're all going to Miami tomorrow," he told him. "It was just going to be us Briefs' but we yelled at Papa and he got more tickets. The girls and I are going to set something up for you two and you're both going to take the chance. Since Trunks still doesn't know that you know I'm going to let Jackie-chan tell him about the meeting. Do you accept this mission?"

Goten nodded mutely, looking all the world like a kicked puppy. V.J. curbed the urge to pat him on the head to make him feel better and sent him on his way.

"Go and pack for the trip and I'll contact you later."

"Sure Vegeta," he said and the door closed. V.J. sat down on his bed, deep in thought. How was he going to get them both to stop looking so miserable all the time? It would take a lot of effort but he was going to come up with a plan that would work.

At least it had better work.

***

An hour before dawn the next day, Bulma stood at the foot of the main staircase with a clipboard. She had already shouted to them about swimsuits and sunscreen but now she was checking off people before they headed off to the airport. Vegeta was in his office making sure that he had all of his papers in his briefcase while Gohan was checking the security robots. The palace was already like Fort Knox but a little more security couldn't hurt.

"Do you have the carry-on bag packed?" Bulma asked the girls upstairs. They were the last ones to make it to the main hall. The carry-on was going to be filled with things to keep them occupied like books, drawing paper, food, and travel games. Bulma jokingly called it her sanity kit. Vegeta arrived on the scene with a black bag on one shoulder and his leather briefcase in the opposite hand. He sighed at the huge amount of luggage on the polished floor and barely kept himself from massaging his temples. It wouldn't do to get a headache with Kakarotto on the trip.

Finally Jakina came down the stairs with her Pooh suitcase on wheels. Pan and Bra followed with their things and finally everyone was set. All they needed, now, was for Gohan to get out of the lab.

"If you don't go get him he's not going to show up," Pan set her things on the ground and disappeared through the door that lead to the throne room. It was the quickest way to the lab. "I'll go!"

"How long is the flight going to take?" Magori asked. He was excited about going on his first plane trip but a little nervous as well.

Mia smiled at him and put her hand on his head. "A while. We'll fly to Los Angeles, California first for a layover and then we fly to Miami, Florida. The total time is estimated at thirteen hours. Nine hours from Tokyo to L.A. and four hours from L.A. to Miami. I have no idea how long for the layover."

"That's a long time on a plane," Magori frowned. "Do they show a movie?"

"On the first leg of the trip they should since it's so long. Don't worry Magori. You'll have Jakina to play with."

"Tousan! You can't just sit in the lab all day studying whatever it is you study!" Pan said very loudly. Gohan still continued to argue with her.

"I'm close to discovering a way of artificial immortaility. Actually," he paused for a moment, "it's Bulma's theory but I want to see if it works."

"It can't wait a week?" Pan asked him. They exited through the doors as he answered.

"Pan-"

"Please! For your very special little girl..." She put on her best puppy-dog look and her father gave up.

"Fine, Pan. I can continue after we get back in town."

"Yay!" She hugged him tightly. "Arigatou Tousan!"

"That look is irresistible, isn't it?" Goku said to his oldest with a grin.

"Hai, Tousan. I wonder where she got that from."

Bulma cleared her throat with an annoyed look. "If everyone's finished and packed we can leave. We only have three hours before the plane leaves without us!"

Vegeta rolled his eyes. "Oh wow, Onna. Three whole hours. Just where did all the time go?"

"Shut up, Vegeta. Don't start with me." Bulma, frowning, brought out her mini encapsulation gun and trained it on the huge pile of luggage in the middle of the floor. It shrank and turned into a small capsule really neatly. Bulma tucked it in her purse and nodded to the assembled group. "Let's go."

***

"I want the window seat!" Pan shouted as she tried to physically force Bra up. "You can't have it!"

"I'm older so I get the window seat!"

"Well I'm stronger," Pan pulled her into the aisle and claimed her prize. "So I get it."

"I'm a princess!"

"I'm...." She trailed off, unable to think of something good. "Aw, crap."

"Pan!" ChiChi, Videl, and Gohan began in unison.

"I know, I know. Gomen nasai."

Across the aisle Bulma had the window seat, Vegeta was in the middle, and Jakina was on the aisle. Both the king and his daughter were going over the laws while Bulma did a crossword puzzle.

"Don't you think the military should exist by now?" She asked her father. "What if something else happens?"

"At the moment it's peaceful and besides, Kakarotto's in charge of it. He and I would have to go over it together and he's just been so busy that we haven't found the time."

She smiled. "You just don't want to discuss anything with him."

"You got that right."

"What's so bad about Goku-san?" she asked, truly wanting to know. "He's a really nice guy and he always spends time with us kids unlike most adults. He's funny and really cool."

Both of them were drawn to the next row forward where Goku was trying to get food from a flight attendant. He tried everything from begging to tears but her answer was always 'You have to wait a while, sir.' "He's also ridiculously childish."

"Well, that too."

"Hey, Bulma! Do you have something for me to eat?"

She grinned and pulled out a labelled capsule. "This is yours. I thought ahead."

Eyes lighting up, he pressed the button on top, threw it, and out popped a seven course meal. "Domo arigatou!" He said as he dug in.

Five hours into the trip the kids were extremely bored. They had played every game they could possibly think of but were bored of all of them. Pan finally decided to alter a game and it was pretty bad overall.

"Truth or Dare Son Pan style!"

Bra frowned. "Why don't I like the sound of that?"

"Who wants to play?" She looked at the girl sitting beside her. "What about you Bra-chan?"

"Sure," she sighed as if it were a big sacrifice. "Why not? I don't have anything better to do."

"Trunks? Goten? Mia? Magori? Jakina?" She looked at them. "What about you guys?"

"I don't even know what Truth or Dare is, Pan." Magori told her. "How do you play?"

"Normally someone would just ask you truth or dare and after you pick they ask you another question. Since this is Son Pan Style, I have truth, dare, double-dare, promise, or repeat. If you refuse to do what you were asked," she paused to think for a moment, "you have to ask Veggie-ojisan for a kiss on the cheek. If he refuses then you get hit once by each member of the group. Not hard," she added this when he looked a little frightened, "just enough so that you feel it."

"Sounds interesting," Mia said. "Count me in."

"What are you kids doing?" ChiChi was, of course, disapproving. "I don't want you drawing attention to us!"

"Aw, let the kids play ChiChi," said Goku. "The other passangers have been staring at us since we boarded. Vegeta's face is extremely familiar, you know."

She frowned for a little while longer but she gave in. "Fine, Goku-sa. But I don't want to be able to hear you all the way back here. Do you understand?"

"You're the only one being loud," Pan muttered and Bra laughed.

"What was that young lady?!"

"Nothing ChiChi-obaasan!" ChiChi eyed her with a disapproving frown but she eventually went back to her book on educating children.

When the game was finally ready to begin there were eight players: Pan, Bra, Jakina, Magori, Mia, Trunks, Goten, and V.J. Pan was extremely pleased that her game went over so well and of course decided to go first. She chose Trunks and he chose promise.

"You have to promise to tell the one you love what you feel." She grinned and Trunks gulped.

"Does it have to be now?" he asked.

"Of course not!" She exclaimed. "You don't want us to hear your sappy declaration of love, do you? Go ahead. Pick someone but it can't be me."

"Goten: Truth, dare, double-dare, promise, or repeat?"

He thought about it hard and finally said, "Dare."

"I dare you go over to that blond lady behind us and ask her to meet you in the bathroom." Trunks had a huge grin on his face and everyone was giggling at Goten's reaction.

"N-nani?" Goten was shocked.

"Do it! Do it!" Pan began to chant. Everyone joined in, quietly enough that ChiChi didn't freak, until he got up and propositioned the lady. First there was a look of absolute shock on her face but then she smacked poor Goten. Hard. He stood there, an angry red hand print on his face, looking embarrassed. When she raised her hand to strike him again, he took off towards his seat.

"Is poor wittle Goten in pain?" V.J. asked with a smirk on his face. "Let mommy kiss it and make it better." He made the motion towards him and the other demi-saiya-jin blocked him.

"That's alright. I don't know where your mouth has been." He grinned and turned towards the next victim. "Bra-chan: Truth, dare, double-dare, promise, or repeat?"

"Truth." She said and everyone made appropriate 'ooh' noises.

"Do you like that Taisho boy? Boyfriend wise I mean."

"Of course not! He's annoying!" She looked indignant at the fact he even asked. Goten decided she was telling the truth and merely nodded. Bra then chose her little sister.

"You know the questions."

"Um," she Jakina paused, "promise. That seems safe enough."

"You have to promise to be my slave for this entire vacation."

Jakina looked at her incredulously and then shook her head. "I won't do that! When will I have time to go to the beach?" She crawled over Magori to reach her father. "Papa, can I have a kiss on the cheek?"

His eyebrows rose. "In public?!"

"Hai, in public. Those meanies will get to hit me if you say iie." She pouted, batting her blue eyes at him for added effect. Vegeta finally sighed and gave her a tiny, brief peck on the cheek.

"There. Happy?"

"Very. Arigatou Papa!"

"I can't believe he did it!" Bra was shocked to say the least. "Papa! Can I have a kiss too?"

"What is this? Earn Affection From Vegeta Day?" But he gave her one any way. Before his other two kids could even ask, he held up his hand. "I'm all kissed out so forget about it. Ask the onna."

A loud snore pierced the air. Bulma was fast asleep with drool on one corner of her mouth. Vegeta took the bottom of her shirt and wiped it off.

"Baka onna," he said somewhat affectionately. Then he remembered just where he was and who could hear him. Clearing his throat, he resumed typing on his laptop as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. No one dared to laugh out loud but several of the kids had smirks on their faces.

"Pick someone, Jackie-chan. Make your question good."

"Magori: Truth, dare, double-dare, promise, or repeat?"

"Double-dare," he said without thinking. When everyone stared at him he realized what he said. "That's a bad one, isn't it?"

Pan nodded. "*Very* bad."

"Can I have a do-over? Please?"

"No do-overs." Jakina smiled. "I double-dare you to eat two spoonfulls of Kaasan's specialty dish: tuna casserole."

"Oh my kami, no." Magori said in hushed tone. "I won't survive that one!"

"Hey Tousan? Can we have what's left in that blue tupperware bowl?"

Goku nodded his ascent and continued to watch the really stupid in-flight movie. Now Showing: How Satan-San Killed Cell.

Jakina got a brand new plastic fork and shoved the plastic container at him. Magori turned even greener than he already was and dug the fork in. The entire serving of tuna casserole came up in one big lump. Magori became even sicker and shook his head.

"I can't do it," he said with some difficulty because he was trying not to get physically sick. He pushed away the dish and took a deep breath of fresh air. "No one can do it. Even Goku-san can't eat that stuff!"

"You know what to do."

Magori leaned across the aisle and pasted a cheerful smile on his face. "Can I ask you a question, Vegeta-san?"

The short saiya-jin blinked at him. "Nani?"

"Can ya kiss me?"

"Kami! What is it with you people?!" He gave him a brief one on his forehead. "Are you satisfied now?"

"Um, Vegeta-san?"

"What is it now, Magori?"

"It has to be on the cheek."

Vegeta raised an eyebrow but he did it anyway. "Am I a part of your little game?"

"Hai, Papa," said Bra. "Sorry 'bout that."

"Well I don't mind!" he said in a falsely cheerful tone. All of the players cringed slightly. "Guess what you get to play now?"

"What?" She was more than a little wary.

"You get to play 'Take A Nap and Leave Vegeta the Hell Alone'!" He glared at them suddenly. "Now do it!"

All the young ones did immediately what he said while Trunks, Goten, V.J., and Mia just looked at him.

"Do you think because you're older that this doesn't apply to you to?"

"We're too old to take naps, Papa!" Trunks complained. He didn't get a response but his father's glare intensified threefold. Trunks gulped and then smiled nervously. "How long do we have to be down?"

"At least four hours. Go."

Vegeta sighed and returned to his document in the word processor when the group broke up. Just as he was beginning to type, a loud snore errupted from Bulma's direction. He sighed, packed up his computer, and just gave up. After kissing Jakina on the forehead he lay back in his seat.

A few minutes later sleep claimed him.

***

"Do *not* miss the flight!" Bulma screamed at everyone at the airport. The nine hour flight from Japan was finally over but now there was only the four hour one ahead of them. Bra, Pan, Jakina, and Magori all nodded and ran to the airport gift shop. They wanted to get some California souvenirs.

The older crowd waited almost impatiently at the gate. The piliot gave them all twenty minutes to stretch and purchase food at the airport café while the jet was refueled. People kept stopping to stare at Vegeta throughout the entire time because his face was a familiar one in the media. He shook so many people's hands he lost count after a while.

"We're buying our own private jet," he muttered to Bulma. "Royalty shouldn't have to pay for transportation."

"We *didn't* pay, remember? The president of the airline company said that it was on them. We could have brought a small army and they wouldn't have cared. No one wants to piss you off."

"A very wise ningen, that president is." He folded his arms across his chest with a content expression. "Very wise."

A tinny voice constantly interrupted by static suddenly came over the loudspeaker system. "Will all passengers of Tokyo Airlines Flight 216 to Miami please board? The plane will be taking off in ten minutes."

Seeing Bulma was about to panic because her precious children (Pan & Magori included) were about to be left behind, Vegeta waved her towards the plane. "I'll go get them and we'll meet you on the plane."

"You better, Vegeta." ChiChi scowled. "My little Panny-chan is *very* important."

"So are the rest of them, Kaasan," Gohan said in his best soothing tone of voice. "They'll be fine. Even if they miss the flight they can fly over and meet us in Miami."

"You're right," she said. Everyone was surprised that she had given up so easily. "They'll all be perfectly fine."

Vegeta made his way into the very crowded gift shop. The kids were all standing around tee-shirts of various California landmarks. The Golden Gate Bridge, the Hollywood Hills, Universal Studios, Disneyland. Everyone had money out and they were trying to figure out what they could buy with what they had.

"I have ten dollars, six hundred yen, and a stick of gum." Bra said.

"Three dollars, two hundred yen, and-" Jakina blew at something in her hand. "-a huge ball of lint."

"Don't even look my way," Pan said. "All I have is fifty yen."

"What happened to all of your money?" Vegeta asked as he came up to them. Pan blushed and coughed slightly.

"Hunger happened. I ate a lot at the airport in Tokyo." She gazed longingly at a Mickey Mouse tee-shirt. He was dressed like the wizard he was in Fantasia and stood in front of the Disneyland sign. "Kid size shirts cost eleven dollars each. We only have enough for one."

"Go ahead and get what you want," Vegeta pulled out his wallet. "I'll pay. Plastic is a wonderful thing."

Eight minutes later they reached the cash register. Unfortunately the cashier had been having trouble with the register so the line had moved very slowly. Finally someone came out to replace her and the final boarding call was heard very dimly.

"We're going to miss the plane." Vegeta said in a very calm tone. The kids looked up at him, confused.

"That's supposed to be a bad thing, Veggie-ojisan." Pan said. "What are we gonna do? They're gonna freak out!"

"We fly," Vegeta smiled very faintly. He couldn't really stand being shut up in the plane anyway. "We'll probably get there before they do."

"All right!" The kids cheered and as they left the gift shop. Of course Magori didn't know how to fly yet but Vegeta was going to carry him.

Even if he did it complaining all the way.

***

The beach house was huge. The living room was the first room that you entered into and it was fully furnished in darkly wooden furniture. A staircase led upward to the bedrooms and two of the bathrooms. One bathroom was just off the living room and the other was off the large kitchen. Vegeta went all out with the furnishings and there was also a big screen television with a stereo system set up next to it. Bra's eyes widnened when she stepped over the threshold and had to take her shoes off to walk in the thick, soft carpet.

"Man, Papa, I didn't know that you had good taste."

"There are a lot of things you don't know about me, Bra." He smiled slightly when he said it.

A while later, after everyone had unpacked, there was a knock at the door. No one knew they were there so when Bra answered she was more than a little surprised.

"Hi Bra-hime!" Taisho said with a big grin on his face. "Welcome to Miami!" She just blinked at him for a while until she was able to form a word.

"Nani?"

"My parents and I have a house just up the beach. We've been coming here every year for a long time." His grin grew even wider. "We're going to have so much fun together!"

"Oh kami no!" She slammed the door in his face and ran screaming from the room.

Pan stood at the window in the living room staring at Taisho. "This is like a bad episode of the Twilight Zone." She opened the front door and let the confused boy inside. "Go on and have a seat, Tai. I'll go get Bra."

***

Bra was on the beach by the time Pan tracked down her ki. She had changed into her swimsuit and had grabbed a bucket and a shovel and was digging in the sand.

"I can't believe you ran from him." Pan dropped to the warm sand beside her with a faint smile on her face.

"Yeah? Well you would too if he were stalking you." She put down her plastic shovel and sighed. "Why did he have to be here? I'm supposed to be able to have fun!"

"You still can." Pan jumped to her feet and pulled Bra upward. "Let's go kick over the chibi's sandcastles!"

"No Pan!" Bra shook her head. "You're evil, do you know that?"

"Yep!"

The beach was beyond crowded, the city being the Spring Break party capital for a lot of the teenagers in the world. They looked at Pan and Bra with annoyance as if a ten and twelve year old shouldn't even be there. They obviously didn't know who Bra was.

"Well I'll be a teenager later this year!" Bra shouted at one uppity girl. She jumped aside as three other teens playing frizbee came running past and sighed.

"How many people are out here today, anyway?"

Pan shrugged. "About two hundred I guess."

"Hey guys!" Taisho shouted as he waved his hands from a sand dune. "I just need to get my nose and ear plugs and then we can go for a swim!"

Bra snatched up her bucket and shovel and took off down the beach. Pan shrugged at Taisho with an apologetic look on her face.

"We'll see ya later Tai!"

"No we won't!" Bra corrected as they ran. She opened her mouth to say something else when she tripped over someone. Doing a flip to correct herself (and to prevent getting sand in her mouth) she landed sort of heavily on her back, looking up at the blue sky. Pan looked down at her, doubled over in hysterical laughter.

"What the heck did I fall over?" She turned her head to the right and her mouth opened in shock. Then she screamed, covered her eyes, jumped to her feet, and began to run again. Pan blinked in confusion and looked in the direction her friend did. She had pretty much the same reaction.

"My eyes! My eyes!" She took off behind Bra, trying to forget the image she just saw.

Yajirobe lifted his head up from his beach towel at their shouts. He rearranged his Speedo and went back to sleep while he worked on his tan. The last thought through his mind was, 'Too bad this isn't a nude beach. Then I wouldn't have any tan lines.'

***

"Now I can finally get to work on my government," Vegeta said more or less to himself. Taking everyone on vacation was the best idea he had in years. They would be gone all day and he would have the peace and quiet needed to get some work done. Booting up his computer, he made himself comfortable on the floor and began to describe his advisory board. A few minutes later he hit a mind block.

"Jakina's good that this stuff," he frowned at the screen. "But I have no idea where she is. Besides, how can I rule if I don't even understand my own laws?"

Vegeta had decided to erase all country boundary lines and rearrange everyone into sectors. Sector One consisted of only the former United States and Canada; Sector Two conisisted of Mexico, the former Central America, and all of the former South America; Sector Three consisted of the entire former continent of Africa minus Egypt; Sector Four consisted of all of former continent of Europe minus Turkey; Sector Five consisted of the entire former Middle East, Sector Six consisted of only the former country of Russia; Sector Seven consisted of the entire former continent of Asia minus the Pacific island countries; Sector Eight consisted of the former countries of Austrailia, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Phillipines, and Papua New Guinea; and Sector Nine consisted of the former countries of Greenland and Antartica. As he thought of the new boundary lines, he came up with a great idea.

"I'll call the advisory board the "Council of Nine" and have one person looking after each sector. Within a sector there will be several different subordinates to a council member called governors that help with more local problems. Within each city there will be a lord that reports to the governor of their subsector and even more more people called comissioners that monitor their ward." He mumbled all of this absentmindedly as he typed it all up.

"Is there someone else in here that I don't know about?" Bulma asked in an amused tone. "Or are you going insane?"

"I'm working on my government, Bulma. Go on down to the beach with the kids."

"This whole trip was just to give you time to straighten out things, wasn't it?" She took a seat next to him. "Shouldn't I be helping you? I *am* queen after all."

Vegeta stood and stretched. "Go right ahead. I'll be on the beach." And before she could say a word, he was gone.

"That little...!" Bulma rolled her eyes and settled herself down to read over what he had already typed.

***

Bra and Pan ran to the other end of the beach, trying to purge their minds of Yajirobe. Both spotted a ice cream cart and stopped for one. Jakina made her way over to them and purchased her own.

"I hear Taisho's here."

Pan nodded and poked Bra. "Yeah. He followed his sweetie."

"I AM NOT HIS SWEETIE!"

In unison the other two girls said, "Sure you're not."

"You really think niichan's gonna tell Goten about his secret love for him?" Bra asked just to change the subject. Actually, she really was concerned.

Pan shrugged. "I hope so. He's been procrastinating for three-and-a-half months now. That's way too long. You think they'll hook up even after he tells him?"

"I don't know.... Goten's a girl-chaser and he likes Kallen."

"Maybe Goten's bi-sexual." Jakina spoke up as she licked at her cone. "That happens sometimes, you know."

The older girls looked at her with amusement. "And what would you know about that?" Bra asked.

"I watch t.v." She said this as if it explained everything. "Besides, papa said that a lot of saiya-jins were when I asked him. Trunks was only dating girls so that people wouldn't ask stupid questions."

"Back to what papa said before," Bra said, "I bet he was going to go through his entire life and not tell us about his 'guy watching'."

Pan started laughing. "Guy watching? He didn't say he had been doing that! He just said he had looked at some."

"What about Goku-san?"

"Please don't bring that up. I'm trying to forget."

"I think you should ask Gohan-san that question," Jakina finished her cone and wiped her hands. "I wanna know."

"Why don't you ask then?" Pan said as she made a face. "I, for one, *don't* want to know."

Trunks walked along the beach with a forlorn look on his face dressed in only brightly colored trunks. Girls left-and-right were making a huge effort to get his attention but none could. He only had eyes for one person and he was playing frizbee with Mia and V.J. The girls all noticed this and sighed in unison.

"He's getting pathetic," Bra said.

"Like a lost puppy." Pan ran off after him and the other girls followed. "Hey Trunks, just about everyone on this beach can see you're depressed."

"I don't care," he said in monotone. Pan looked to be struggling to tell him something but at length kept her mouth shut. They had to figure it out on their own. She and Bra exchanged looks and were startled by a sound from Jakina.

"Listen up Trunks!" she said in an authoritive voice as she grabbed him by the arms. "You are going to tell him on this trip even if I have to tie you down and make you listen to me tell him myself. I am *so* tired of your pitiful sighs and longing looks. You're going to waste so much time that he'll never find out just how much you love him. So get off your ass and do it already!"

Trunks, Bra, and Pan all stared at her with their mouths open. She suddenly smiled and hugged Trunks around the waist. "I just don't like seeing you so unhappy, okay? Ignore the shouting."

"I'm going to do it!" he said with a smile. Then he sighed. "Eventually..."

All three girls pushed him down into the sand and stomped off.

He laughed so hard tears ran down his cheeks. "WAIT! I was just kidding!" He received no response and eventually snagged his brother and talked to him about his plan. He was going to take a chance soon.

***

"What are you doing?" Bulma asked in a loud voice. She had heard the familar clacking of computer keys as she passed a closet. Opening the door she found the very man she had told explicitly *not* to work doing it anyway. Gohan jerked his hands away as if he was caught with them in the forbidden cookie jar. He smiled the familar sheepish Son smile and slowly closed the top to his computer.

"I'm so close to finishing!" he said with pleading look. "Can I just-"

Bulma shook her head. "Iie."

"But-"

"How many times must I tell you Son Gohan?" she asked. "Iie, iie, IIE!"

He sighed and unfolded his long legs from their crossed position. "You're starting to sound like Kaasan."

Bulma shuddered. "Please don't say that." Gohan grinned and of course did the exact opposite.

"You sound like Kaasan! You sound like Kaasan!" Bulma took a swipe at him and he danced out of reach. Then he took off running down the hall and laughing like a maniac with Bulma chasing him. The kids looked up from the television in the living room just in time to see the two run from the house and down to the beach.

"Did I just see what I thought I saw?" Pan asked, eyes wide with amazement.

Everyone nodded. "Hai," Magori said. "But I don't believe it either."

"Let's just pretend that didn't happen."

Vegeta entered the room, looked around, and left. Just when Bra was going to call out and asked who, or what, he was looking for he stuck his head around the corner and asked, "Have you seen Kakarotto?"

"He said that he was going down to the beach for a swim," Pan told him. "That was a few hours ago."

He sighed. "Knowing him he's probably eating."

"Yoo hoo! Veggie-chan!" Goku entered through the front door grinning. "They have the best club down on the boardwalk! I was planning on going back after dinner."

"*You* went clubbing?" Pan asked him. Then she shook her head. "The world is going insane. First tousan runs from the house laughing like a little boy now you're telling me you went to a club!"

Goku blinked. "Gohan actually had fun? I didn't think he knew the meaning of the word."

"I have an idea!" Jakina said with a grin. "V.J. asked me to help him with Goten and Trunks and Goku-san finshed my plan. They're going clubbing!"

Bra frowned. "I'm not following."

"They need some place where they can talk, somewhere that no one knows him."

"And you picked a public place? As famous as Trunks is?"

"You're right. Bad idea."

"How about we make them a candlelight picnic on the beach? Just the two of them."

Pan shook her head. "We don't have a place. That beach out there is *way* too crowded."

Bra lightly smacked her against the head and Pan pouted in mock pain. "We're in Florida, baka. There's always more than one beach."

"If it'll stop those two from looking pitiful all of the time then it's a good idea." Vegeta motioned for Goku to follow him and they disappeared into the dining room.

"What are they doing in there?" Jakina whispered curiously. She began to creep closer to the door way but Vegeta was insantly there to block her.

"You wanted something?" he asked.

She thought fast. "Can we use your laptop? I wanted to get a map so that we can find more beaches."

"There's a Florida tourist guide in the bedroom. It has all you need." He closed the doors to the dining room and she couldn't hear a thing.

"I wanna know what they're doing!" Jakina whined as she began to climb the stairs with Bra and Pan following. Then she thought about what she said and shook her mind. "That's okay. I'm just going to tell myself they're going over the government."

"They probably are," Bra said as her eyes scanned the room. "We have no military, remember? Besides, kaasan told me that this was a business trip for papa. He was trying to give us something to do so we wouldn't be around all of the time."

"At least *I* help him. All you and Pan do is run from Taisho and play all day."

Bra narrowed her eyes at her younger sister in anger and folded her arms. "I know what you're trying to say. We know that you're smarter than we are, Jakina. *Everyone* knows that you're smarter than we are! But," she poked her in the chest, "we don't need you throwing it back into our faces all of the time."

"Yeah!" Pan agreed. "We're smart too. Bulma-san's a genuis and my tousan's pretty smart."

Jakina didn't answer then but instead grabbed the map from the bed and left the room. She got as far as the staircase before the tears came. Bra and Pan both exchanged guilty looks as they heard the front door slam but neither moved to follow her.

"This is all your fault!" Both accused in unison.

"You yelled at her," Pan told her as she slowly began to follow the path Jakina had taken.

"But you agreed with me!" Then she sighed. "This is both of our faults. We both know she isn't as strong as we are. She can't take words like that and ignore them."

"That's only because she's so nice that no one really ever gets mad at her." Pan peeked out the window and saw the girl sitting on a large boulder staring off at the ocean. "Why were we so mad anyway? Isn't it a good thing to be as smart as she is?"

Bra shook her head and turned away. Pan waited while her best-friend gathered her thoughts. "Not to me it isn't. I guess I think that kaasan and papa like her more than me. You remember how it was before she was born? I was Papa's favorite. Now she helps him all of the time and I can't do anything."

"You know Veggie-ojisan loves you, Bra." Pan stopped herself. "Well, I guess you know. It's not like he ever tells you or anything." She hastily continued when she saw the other girl's face fall. "But he does stuff with you that he never did with Trunks or V.J. If anything I'd say that he doesn't like *them* too much."

Bra smiled slightly. "I do remember the time when I was seven and he helped you and me make brownies. We ended up throwing flour at each other and kaasan almost had a heart-attack when she walked into the kitchen."

"See? He never had fun like that with your niichans."

"How would I know? I wasn't even around yet. Trunks was twelve and V.J. was eight when I was born."

Pan stopped trying to cheer her up and just watched her. After a while a determined look came over her face and she marched off towards the dining room.

"I'm going to ask him right now!"

"You are? Wait a minute! That might not be a good idea..." Bra opened the doors and walked over to her father, closing his laptop to make him focus his entire attention on her.

"Do you love me Papa? I need to know the truth."

Vegeta looked confused. "Why are you asking me this *now*?"

"I know you love Jakina but you never told me." Tears sprang to her eyes as she looked down at him. "I don't know if you do." Pan and Goku quietly left the room leaving the other two to their privacy.

Vegeta sat Bra on his lap as he had done when she was a little girl and wiped her tears away. "Listen to me, Bra. I love you, your sister, and your brothers all equally. I may not say it a lot but it's true."

"Really Papa?" Bra asked hopefully. "Jakina's not your favorite because she can help you with the government?"

"Not at all. You could help, too, if you wanted. It's not difficult at all."

She made a face. "Iie arigatou. I'd rather not." Her eyes widened as she remembered her sister. "I have to talk to Jackie-chan! She's probably still crying because of what I said." Bra jumped from her father's lap and ran to the door. Pausing she said, "Arigatou Papa."

"I have a place!" Jakina said cheerfully as she entered the room and spread the map on the table. "It's a little known beach only a mile away from here."

"Maybe not," Bra muttered to herself, moving to see the map. She watched her sister point to a red circle and the blue dotted line that lead from it.

"This is the beach in red, the blue line goes from it to our current location. In black I've written the estimated time it'll take to get from here to there." Vegeta nodded as he read the name.

"Lover's Cove?" he asked. "Isn't that a little... much for a first date?"

"It's not a date, Papa, more of a meeting."

"Well, for a first meeting then."

She disagreed with him. "It's private, it's secluded, and Trunks can't use the excuse 'There are too many people around!'."

"Point taken."

"Who's going to make the food?" Bra asked. The three of them looked at each other for a moment and said in unison: "ChiChi."

"Yeah," Jakina said. "We can't have them getting food poisoning before even having their talk!"

"How does she feel about them? ChiChi won't cook if she doesn't like it."

"ChiChi's dealing," Goku said as he took a seat. "She's not happy but she's dealing with it."

"What about you, Goku-ojiichan?" Pan asked. "How do you feel?"

He shook his head. "I can't do anything about it but *my* genes are the ones responsible." He stopped Bra from speaking. "I know that he hasn't said anything about being in love with Trunks but he doesn't have to. I can see it, Vegeta can see it, and their mothers can see it. I'm surprised that you can't see it too."

"Very insightful, Kakarotto," Vegeta commented. Goku only smiled. "ChiChi will do this if only to make her son happy. He has to understand by now that Kallen is beyond his reach. She's a ruling mage and heir of Chaos therefore she doesn't have the time to spend with him."

"That reminds me," Goku said. "Are we going to help her? She can't die childless you know. We would all die too and she doesn't want that."

"She wants to be immortal and we can't provide that at the moment." Vegeta rolled his eyes. "The onna has confiscated the water for scientific study. Hopefully she'll come up with something good."

"Isn't that what tousan is doing?" Pan asked. "Studying immortality?"

"Probably. That's *all* he does, by the way. Gohan is obsessed with science like he should be obsessed with his training."

Goku chuckled. "*What* training? I think he's forgotten how."

"That's exactly my point!" Vegeta pushed his computer away and yawned. "I'm going to sleep. *Do not* wake me up for any reason."

"What if the house is on fire?" Jakina asked with a grin. "Are we supposed to let you burn to death?" He gave her a look and her grin grew wider. "I'll take that as a 'iie'."

Both adults departed for different locations and the girls were left alone with Jakina. Bra fidgeted for a moment before she looked up from the floor.

"I apologize for making you cry, Jackie-chan," she said. "I wasn't thinking."

"I didn't know that you felt that way about me but it's in the past. Forget about it."

Bra shook her head in refusal. "No we are not going to forget about this! I hurt your feelings, you know. You're not supposed to forgive me!"

"Bra-chan," Jakina said as she went over to stand in front of her. "we're two different people. You inherited both mama and papa's stubborness when it comes to anger. I haven't." She shrugged. "There are more important things to worry about."

Pan nodded. "I agree. Let's go."

"We are going to discuss this *now*!" Bra stomped her foot on that word to stress it. The other two girls left the room with smiles on their faces and Bra stood there looking annoyed. "Fine! We'll talk about it later then!"

"No we won't!" Jakina called back with a giggle.

Bra finally gave up and followed them to the beach. Her sister had been right after all. There *were* more important things to worry about. Like her niichan and Goten for one. Either they were going to get together or Trunks was going to stop driving them insane with his moping.

Their plan had better work. Too much was riding on it.

***

The next few days passed by very quickly. The three girls, when not at the beach, were planning the "meeting". Trunks never noticed in his depression but Goten did and asked them about it.

"V.J. told me to talk to you," he said to Jakina. "I have no idea why."

"The *plan* that's why!" She looked around to make sure that Trunks couldn't accidentally overhear somehow. She motioned for him to follow her outside onto the porch and after one last look, she explained to him what was going on. "It would give you two time to talk. No one likes to see Trunks so sad."

"I-," Goten broke off and looked away. "I don't know what to do!"

"What can I say to make this better since I seem to have to be the adult here?" Jakina paused. "Oh! I know!" She placed her hand on his chest, over his heart. "You need to follow your heart, Goten, not your head. It's probably telling you that what Trunks feels is wrong anywyay. Deep down inside you know what you have to do. Either way, if you choose correctly, you'll be happy."

He nodded in understanding, a little amused seeing as he was taking the advice of a nine-year-old. "I know what I have to do now. Domo arigatou Jackie-chan. Have you ever thought about becoming a counselor?"

"Am I really good enough for that?" she asked. "You're the first person I've ever given advice to."

"Believe me, you're good."

She smiled and gave him a quick hug. "Now you know who to come to. I'm always open, rain or shine!"

ChiChi, at first, did not want to cook anything for a son that would deny her more grandchildren but Goku talked to her and eventually she gave in. That part was finished and V.J. took the kids to the store for candles. On the day before they were to leave Miami for home, Goten paced nervously in his room.

"What if I screw up and make things worse?" he asked Mia as she sat on his bed. "He'll probably never speak to me again."

"One tiny little fight won't ruin your friendship. You two are closer than that."

"I know. Well, at least I *think* that I know." He stopped moving and looked at her with a miserable expression. "What about Kallen?"

"What about her?" Mia asked. "We all thought you were over her and had accepted the fact that you two will never be together. You don't really love her anyway."

"How would you know?" he asked, still trying to cling to belief.

"You had only known her for less than three weeks, Goten. There is no such thing as love at first sight. You liked her, maybe even lusted after her, but you sure didn't love her."

Collapsing onto the bed beside his sister, Goten faced reality. "You're right, you know? I liked her a lot but I didn't love her."

"You love Trunks."

"Of course I do. That's the difference between just regular friends and best-friends. You like one kind and love the other."

"But you love him despite what he's done or said to you over the years. He wasn't that nice as a kid, I hear."

"He was a real brat but the bad things never overbalanced the good ones. We have fun and he understands me."

Mia's dark eyes met Goten's own. "Do you understand him?"

"Hai, Mia." He looked away. "I understand what he feels and why he feels that way. But I'm...."

She grabbed his hand and held it in her own. "You're afraid and that's okay. No matter what happens tonight things will work out in the end. You have to believe in that."

"I will," he replied. "I don't have anything else."

***

Trunks took a deep breath to calm his nerves and smiled shakily at Goten. "Have a seat," he said as he motioned to the beach blanket on the sand. "We have to talk and it'll probably be better if you're sitting for this one."

Goten decided to play along as if he didn't already know what the talk was going to be about. He had come to his decision earlier that night and the only thing remained was for Trunks to hear it. The other man's hands shook as started into the food and Goten felt sorry for him. Soon their meal was complete and all that waited was Trunks' revelation.

"Goten, you have no idea how hard this is for me," he said. "I've never felt the strongly about anything before. Now please don't get mad and walk off before I finish, okay? Just *please* don't do that." Goten nodded mutely and was tempted to just tell him that he knew to end Trunks' mental torment but he had a feeling it would be better if he let things run their course.

"This isn't some spur-of-the-moment decision," Trunks continued. "I've thought about this for years but never said anything about it. But it's time for me to speak out and I've even made this my New Year's resolution. It took me three months to actually get around to fufilling it but it's better late than never."

Goten had reached the end of his patience. He had been warned by everyone that, unless stopped, Trunks would procrastinate until the sun refused to shine. He stopped him in mid-word and brought up the true purpose of the picnic on the sand.

"You're in love with me. I know." Goten watched the color drain from his best-friends' face and mentally berated himself for speaking out. He should have just remained silent. Trunks would have said something, eventually.

"Who told you?" he asked with a look of forced calm. "I know that Jackie-chan, kaasan, and papa wouldn't so it was either Pan or Bra."

"It was Pan but that's not important," Goten tried to make him feel better.

"When?"

"Christmas."

"You knew for that long and you never said anything?!"" Trunks asked with a shout. "How could you let me worry for months?"

It was Goten's turn to fidget. "I thought that you should bring it up. I was afraid." This calmed Trunks considerably as he carefully considered his words.

"I guess I can't fault you for that," he sighed. "I was scared too. I thought you were going to stop being my friend or, worse of all, begin to hate me. That alone was enough to keep me quiet."

I could never hate you, Trunks, I love you too much for that." Hope flashed on Trunks' face but it died at his next words. "But I don't know if I'm *in* love with you. There's just too much going on and I need time to straighten it all out."

"I... understand." Trunks said in a soft voice. "I never should have brought it up in the first place."

Goten smiled. "I didn't say iie, baka. I just said that I *didn't* know. There's a difference."

Trunks began to smile as well. "Then there's still a possibility?"

"Hai."

"There's still a possibility!" he shouted with glee for the first time in a long time and pulled Goten to his feet. "I still have a chance with you!" His happiness spread to Goten and they both began to dance on the sand. Trunks paused in his celebration and looked at his friend. "I will wait for eternity."

"I know."

Then the two of them sat side-by-side in comfortable silence until the stars glowed in the sky.

***

Everything was rushed the next day as everyone packed up to leave. The kids wanted to say goodbye the ocean despite Bulma's urgings to check around to see if they had forgotten something. Breakfast was toast, cereal, and strawberry Pop Tarts since they had to be at the airport in only a few hours and that definitely wasn't enough time to cook food to feed saiya-jin. Trunks literally skipped into the kitchen and grabbed a box of cereal from the counter.

"Ohayo family!" he said brightly. "Wonderful day, isn't it?"

Pan snickered. "If I didn't know any better I'd say you got laid last night."

"PAN!" Gohan, ChiChi, and Videl shouted while everyone else began to laugh.

"Well he's acting too happy in my opinion!"

"Can't a man be happy just because?" he asked.

"Not *you*."

"Well..." He trailed off with a smile. "Let's just say that the meeting didn't go badly."

"But we're not together," Goten added as he entered the room. "Trunks is in his 'there's still hope' state of mind."

"A maybe is positive to me!"

Bulma shook her head. "A maybe is neither positive or negative, Trunks."

Still clinging to his happiness he said, "Well, at least it wasn't negative."

"I have things," Goten sighed, "that I have to straighten out first. It's not just about Kallen either."

Jakina spoke up. "For my second piece of advice I'm going to tell Goten to again stop listening to his head. It's saying to him, "It's wrong to think that way' and I think he's starting to listen. Just go for it. I know you'll be happy."

ChiChi opened her mouth to add her own two-cents in and Goku spoke over her. "You're very wise, Jackie-chan. Goten *should* listen to your words but he really doesn't pay attention to anyone but Trunks."

"It's not like he's ever right about anything," Goten grinned. "He always lied to me when we were kids."

"I just didn't want to seem stupid, okay!" He blushed and focused on his cereal. "You believed me, though."

There was a knock on the door and Pan jumped up to answer in. In a few moments she called back, "Bra! Your boyfriend is here!"

"He's *not* my boyfriend!" Bra had successfully spent three days advoiding him and was just about to exit through the back door when he entered the kitchen. She sighed and put a smile on her face. "Ohayo, Taisho."

"I have to tell you something Bra-hime." He took a deep breath. "I'm apologize for the way I've been following you around. I got a little carried away."

Bra agreed. "You sure did."

"But it's just that you're so cool!"

"Me? Cool?" Bra was shocked. No one had ever called her that before. "I'm not cool."

"Nope," Pan piped up. "She's a baka."

"You see what I have to put up with?"

"I'll see you back in Satan City, Bra-hime. Maybe we can talk then."

She was beginning to have a change of heart about Taisho. "No problem. You know where I live." She walked him to the front door and when she returned to the kitchen a lot of them had smiles on their faces. "I *don't* like him, you know."

"She hates his guts," Pan added.

"Now I wouldn't go *that* far anymore. He apologized."

"What if he does it again when we get back?" Magori asked her. "You would hate him then wouldn't you?"

"Hai and then I would get a restraining order."

"And *then* it would be all over international television," Bulma added. "That's the price you pay for fame, you know. I would prefer if you could settle this outside of a courtroom."

"I suggest you hurt the boy," Vegeta said. "It would at least make him think twice about bothering you."

Bulma rolled her eyes. "She'll end up with assault charges, Vegeta. For once, can't your ideas *not* involve kicking someone's ass?"

"I'm a saiya-jin onna! Ass kicking is all we do!"

"I would have to disagree," Goku said. "Ass kicking is all *you* do. I'm a civilized saiya-jin which means I can solve problems without resorting to violence. You should try it sometime, Veggie. Maybe you'll like it."

"I am a warrior, Kakarotto! Not a peacemaker!"

Bulma finished the last of her coffee and commented. "*Now* you are. Kings promote peace, not destroy it." Vegeta didn't respond but instead thought over all of the work he had gotten done the past week. The trip had definitely been worth it.

  
Finally I'm finished with this side-story. Can you believe that I started writing this one before New Year, New Hope? Anyway, stay tuned for book three (I'm rewriting it).


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